WWE and UFC merge to form $21 billion company
AFTER roughly 70 years of being in the control of the McMahon family, WWE was sold to Endeavor Group Holdings on Monday.
WWE and UFC, which is owned by Endeavor, are merging to form a $21 billion (R374bn) “global live sports and entertainment company”. With the transaction, UFC was valued at $12.1bn, and WWE had a valuation of $9.3bn.
“Together, we will be a $21-plus billion live sports and entertainment powerhouse with a collective fanbase of more than a billion people and an exciting growth opportunity,” WWE executive chairperson Vince McMahon said.
“The new company will be well positioned to maximise the value of our combined media rights, enhance sponsorship monetisation, develop new forms of content and pursue other strategic mergers and acquisitions to further bolster our strong stable of brands.
“Together, UFC and WWE will have global reach, impressive scale and omnichannel distribution,” a joint statement said on Monday.
On a combined 2022 fiscal year-end basis, UFC and WWE achieved revenue of $2.4bn and a 10% annual revenue growth rate since 2019.
“This is a rare opportunity to create a global live sports and entertainment pureplay built for where the industry is headed,” said Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor.
“I, along with the current WWE management team, look forward to working closely with Ari and the Endeavor and UFC teams to take the businesses to the next level,” said McMahon.
Together, UFC and WWE expect to deliver an estimated $50 million to $100m in annualised run rate cost.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the executive committee of the board of directors of Endeavor and by the board of directors of WWE.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2023.
Endeavor will have a 51%controlling interest, with the remaining 49% spread across WWE’s shareholders.
Vincent McMahon’s grandfather, Jess McMahon, and father, Vincent J McMahon, founded the Capitol Wrestling Corporation in 1953, which later became the World Wide Wrestling Federation and then the World Wrestling Federation.
In 1982, Vincent J McMahon sold WWE to his son, and it morphed into a global powerhouse that became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999.
Due largely to its massive television deals with NBCUniversal and Fox, WWE has been more profitable than ever in recent years, which positioned it well to maximise value in a sale.
While fans and analysts have been bracing for a sale, the focus shifts toward what it will mean for the product.
McMahon’s role in the company and Paul Levesque’s status as head of creative are two things that will have to be determined by the buyer, provided they haven’t been decided.
Since McMahon ran WWE Creative from 1982 until his retirement in 2022, it stands to reason that he would potentially want to resume the role, although he is 77 years old and the belief among most fans is that he lost his creative touch long ago.
Levesque, better know as Triple H, has been the head of creative since McMahon stepped down last summer amid several Wall Street Journal reports linking him to non-disclosure agreement payments sent to former mistresses.
Levesque’s run heading the creative side has been well-received, with many pointing to a massive qualitative leap in WWE programming versus recent years under McMahon. It’s unclear if Levesque will remain in charge of creative under the new regime.
For the latest on this past weekend’s WrestleMania 39 in Hollywood, see page 16