WWE investigating McMahon
Daughter serving as interim CEO
STAMFORD — WWE confirmed Friday that its board of directors is investigating alleged misconduct by Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Vince McMahon and another executive, while it also announced that Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon would serve as interim CEO and chairwoman until the inquiry is completed.
The announcement that Vince McMahon had voluntarily “stepped back” from his leadership roles during the investigation comes two days after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Stamfordbased company’s board was investigating a secret $3 million settlement that he agreed to pay a former employee with whom he allegedly had an affair.
The Journal also reported that the board had discovered other, older nondisclosure agreements related to former female WWE employees alleging misconduct by Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis, the company’s head of talent relations.
“I have pledged my complete cooperation to the investigation by the special committee (of the board), and I will do everything possible to support the investigation,” Vince McMahon said in a written statement included in a news release.
“I have also pledged to accept the findings and outcome of the investigation, whatever they are.”
Vince McMahon would “retain his role and responsibilities related to WWE’s creative content during this period and remains committed to cooperating with the review underway,” according to the news release.
A separate news release
Friday said that he would appear on the latest episode of WWE’s SmackDown at 8 p.m. Friday on the Fox network, but it provided no additional information about the reasons for that appearance.
The company did not comment on what role, if any, Laurinaitis would maintain at the company during the investigation. Laurinaitis is a retired professional wrestler, also known by his ring name, Johnny Ace.
Stephanie McMahon, who is Vince McMahon’s daughter, takes over as interim CEO and chairwoman less than a month after she announced she would take a leave of absence. When she announced the leave, she said she was “taking this time to focus on my family.” But it is not clear whether that decision was also connected to the investigation. The probe began in April, according to the Journal.
“I love this company and am committed to working with the (board’s) independent directors to strengthen our culture and our company. It is extremely important to me that we have a safe and collaborative workplace,” Stephanie McMahon said in a statement.
“I have committed to doing everything in my power to help the special committee complete its work, including marshaling the cooperation of the entire company to assist in the completion of the investigation and to implement its findings.”
Stephanie McMahon is married to Paul Levesque, who performed in the ring as “Triple H” and is now WWE’s executive vice president of global talent strategy and development. He is also a WWE board member.
President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan is the other WWE executive to serve on the board.
The independent board directors, who do not work at the company and hold eight of the board’s 12 seats, have brought in independent legal counsel to assist them with an independent review, according to the news release. In addition, the board’s special committee and the company would work with an independent third party to conduct a “comprehensive review of the company’s compliance program, HR function and overall culture,” the release said.
The release added that the company and the board “do not expect to have further comment until the investigation is concluded.”
Among the board’s preliminary findings were that McMahon drew from personal funds to pay the former female employees who signed the agreements, including the one pertaining to allegations against Laurinaitis, according to the Journal.
The Journal also reported that Vince McMahon’s attorney, Jerry McDevitt, provided a letter that said the former employee with whom McMahon had reached the $3 million settlement, had not alleged any harassment by McMahon and that WWE “did not pay any monies” to the woman “on her departure.” The woman had worked as a paralegal at the company, according to the Journal.
A message left by Hearst Connecticut Media for McDevitt was not returned.
Vince McMahon, 76, is one of the most well-known chief executives in the U.S. — as highlighted by a Twitter following of about 2.4 million — and the allegations against him have sparked widespread discussion this week on social media.
“Trust would be further breached if they don’t take the allegations seriously,” Greg Reilly, a professor and head of the management and entrepreneurship department in the University of Connecticut’s
School of Business, said in an interview. “This is a signal that they’re taking the allegations seriously in an effort to maintain trust with customers, employees and other stakeholders.”
Vince McMahon leads a company that has grown in the past few decades into one of the largest sports-entertainment enterprises. WWE’s revenues in 2021 totaled a company-record of about $1 billion, with millions of fans globally watching events such as the annual WrestleMania and the weekly shows Raw and SmackDown.
WWE shares closed Friday at $62.51, down 3.64 percent from Thursday. They reached a 52-week high of $68.73 and hit a 52-week low of $46.81.
Vince McMahon is married to Linda McMahon. She formerly served as the company’s CEO before running unsuccessfully in Connecticut for a U.S. Senate seat in 2010 and 2012 and serving as Small Business Administration administrator from 2017 to 2019.
Among other recent developments, real estate records indicate that Vince and Linda McMahon have put their penthouse in the downtown Park Tower Stamford on the market for $4.1 million.