WWE founder sells $311 million in stock back to TKO, Endeavor
Latest sale by Vince McMahon signals unwinding of his ties to parent company.
Wrestling legend Vince McMahon has cashed out $311 million worth of his stock in TKO Group Holdings, the public company formed last April after Endeavor acquired World Wrestling Entertainment and merged it with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
It was the third time in five months that the WWE founder has sold off large chunks of his TKO holdings, totaling about $1.5 billion.
According to Securities and Exchange Commission documents filed Monday, beginning April 4, McMahon entered into a pair of stock sale agreements.
In the first, Endeavor agreed to purchase 1.64 million shares of McMahon’s Class A common stock, worth $146.2 million at $89.01 a share.
Three days later, TKO agreed to purchase 1.85 million of McMahon’s shares in the company, also at $89.01 per share, for $165 million.
TKO plans to retire the shares of the common stock and fund the TKO buyback using some $150 million from a revolving credit facility, according to the filings.
In November, McMahon sold $700 million worth of his
TKO shares, followed by an additional $412 million in March.
In January, McMahon resigned as executive chairman of the board of TKO one day after a former WWE employee, Janel Grant, sued the company, McMahon and former head of talent relations John Laurinaitis, alleging sexual assault, trafficking and emotional abuse.
McMahon denied the allegations.
The sell-off signals that McMahon is unwinding his financial ties to TKO amid his ongoing legal woes.
In 2022, an investigation by WWE’s board found that McMahon made at least $14.6 million in payments between 2006 and 2022 for “alleged misconduct,” according to regulatory filings.
The settlements were made to women, including WWE employees, who alleged that McMahon initiated unwanted sexual contact and coerced women into performing sexual acts on him; in one case a woman alleged that McMahon sent her unsolicited nude photos of himself, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
McMahon’s alleged misconduct is the subject of investigations by the SEC and the Department of Justice. Last year, WWE disclosed in a regulatory filing that federal law enforcement agents served McMahon with a grand jury subpoena and a search warrant in July.
“I am confident that the government’s investigation will be resolved without any findings of wrongdoing,” McMahon said last year in a statement to The Times.
Endeavor, the entertainment giant headed by Hollywood power broker Ari Emanuel, retains controlling ownership of TKO.
Last week, Endeavor announced a deal to go private by its largest investor, Silver Lake, after a three-year run as a public company. The company said it was being acquired at an equity value of $13 billion.