McMahon seeks to wrestle potential $9B in WWE sale

The 77-year-old is the controlling shareholder and reinstated himself as executive chairman in January

Vince McMahon is looking to get as much as $9 billion in a potential sale of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., the company he returned to run this year, according to people.

The company already has received offers, said the people, who requested that they not be identified because the discussions are private. WWE declined to comment.

Shares of WWE rose as much as 4.9% to $91.48 Friday in New York. As of the close Thursday, the asking price was 37% greater than the company's $6.5 billion market value. The stock has risen 30% this year, in part due to takeover speculation.

The 77-year-old McMahon is the WWE's controlling shareholder and reinstated himself as executive chairman in January to oversee a strategic review of the company. McMahon left the firm last year following revelations that he had paid millions of dollars to settle sexual misconduct claims.

The list of potential buyers for the WWE includes Endeavor Group Holdings Inc., the owner of Ultimate Fighting Championship, as well as investors from the Middle East who already made major investments in golf and soccer. Endeavor would need financial help from a third party since its market capitalization of $10.4 billion is only a bit more than what McMahon wants, but the company has already shown it can integrate and grow a sports-media business with a divisive founder in the UFC.

Saudi Arabia is starting to make major investments in media and entertainment and already has expressed interest in buying Liberty Media Corp.'s Formula One. WWE Chief Executive Officer Nick Khan dismissed a report last month that the Saudis already had a deal to buy the company as “totally false.”

Larger strategic buyers, such as Netflix and Walt Disney Co., may be uneasy taking on a business controlled by McMahon that involves the sometimes messy personal lives of its wrestlers. McMahon learned the business from his father, an event promoter on the East Coast. He built the WWE into an international entertainment powerhouse that packs arenas and airs programs regularly on Fox Corp. and Comcast Corp.'s USA network.

WWE is in the early stages of negotiations for its next TV deals and could renew its current agreements with Fox and Comcast. Any media company interested in airing the programs also could use this moment to buy the whole business. WWE has been one of the most popular draws for Comcast's Peacock streaming service.

Yet McMahon may not find many buyers eager to pay his price considering the shaky global economy and rising interest rates. A valuation of $9 billion amounts to about seven times the company's $1.29 billion in sales last year and 23 times its adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization, both at the high end for the entertainment industry.

Amazon office staff to return 3 days a week

Amazon will require its corporate employees to return to the office at least three days a week.

CEO Andy Jassy announced the policy Friday in a memo to staff. It marks a shift from Amazon's current policy of allowing leaders to determine how their teams worked. The change will go into effect May 1.

Many companies have been calling their employees back to the office after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to operate virtually.

Last month, Starbucks told its corporate employees to plan to work from the office three days a week. Disney is asking employees to plan for four in-office days starting in March. Walmart said this week that it would require its tech teams to plan regular in-office work days.

Among other things, Jassy said his senior leadership team watched how staff performed and talked to leaders at other companies. He said they concluded employees tended to be more engaged in person and collaborate more easily.

The move could help local economies, he said.

“I'm also optimistic that this shift will provide a boost for the thousands of businesses located around our urban headquarter locations in the Puget Sound, Virginia, Nashville and the dozens of cities around the world where our employees go to the office,” Jassy wrote.

Markets close bumpy week with mixed finish

Wall Street closed another bumpy week with a mixed performance Friday amid worries that inflation is not cooling as quickly or as smoothly as hoped.

The S&P fell 0.3% after paring a bigger loss from the morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 129 points, or 0.4%, after coming back from an early loss of 179 points, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6%.

The two-year Treasury yield topped 4.70% in the morning, up from 4.62% late Thursday and from less than 4.10% earlier this month. It later pulled back to 4.61%. It has recently approached its heights from November, when it reached its highest point since 2007.

Microsoft fell 1.6% and Nvidia lost 2.8% for some of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500.

Energy stocks also tumbled as the price of oil weakened. Exxon Mobil fell 3.8%.

JFK Airport terminal set to reopen today

Terminal 1 at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport was due to reopen with limited operations today after a Thursday power outage caused flight delays, cancellations and the closing of the terminal.

“Contingent on the completion of repairs and testing, we anticipate the start of limited operations at Terminal 1 on Saturday,” Alana Calmi, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement. “Travelers should continue to check with their carriers for flight status before coming to Terminal 1.”

Terminal 1 represents 5% of all JFK scheduled passenger flights, and of today's 64 scheduled Terminal 1 arrivals and departures, 13 will operate at other JFK terminals, 12 will operate at other local airports, according to the Port Authority.

Terminal 1 has 11 gates and serves several major international carriers including Korean Air, Air France, Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines. Some planes have been diverted to other airports, while others have returned to their points of origin.

The outage was caused by an electrical-panel failure that sparked a small fire that was quickly extinguished, according to the Port Authority.