WWE and the company that runs Final Combating Championship will combine to create a $21.4 billion sports activities actions leisure agency.
A model new publicly traded agency will most likely be normal that properties the UFC and WWE producers, with Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. taking a 51% controlling curiosity throughout the new agency. Current WWE shareholders will keep a 49% stake.
The firms put the enterprise price of UFC at $12.1 billion and WWE’s price at $9.3 billion.
The brand new enterprise, which doesn’t however have a fame, will most likely be lead by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. Vince McMahon, authorities chairman at WWE, will serve within the similar place on the brand new agency.
Dana White will proceed as president of UFC and Nick Khan will most likely be president at WWE.
“Collectively, we will likely be a $21+ billion dwell sports activities and leisure powerhouse with a collective fanbase of greater than a billion folks and an thrilling progress alternative,” McMahon said in a prepared assertion Monday.
He moreover supplied some idea of the place the primary goal of the model new agency will most likely be, saying that it’s going to look to maximise the value of combined media rights, enhance sponsorship monetization, develop new varieties of content material materials and pursue completely different strategic mergers and acquisitions to further bolster their producers.
The announcement arrives after McMahon, the founder and majority shareholder of WWE, returned to the company in January and said that it could very nicely be up in the marketplace.
Rumors swirled about who could also be inquisitive about purchasing for WWE, with Endeavor, Disney, Fox, Comcast, Amazon and Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund all throughout the mix.
Media enterprise analysts thought of WWE as a sexy acquisition purpose given its worldwide attain and reliable fanbase, which includes all people from minors to seniors and quite a lot of incomes.
The agency held its marquee event, WrestleMania, over the weekend. Final 12 months, WWE booked earnings of $1.3 billion.
The agency may also be a social media powerhouse. It surpassed 16 billion social video views throughout the remaining quarter of ultimate 12 months. It has nearly 94 million YouTube subscribers and has higher than 20 million followers on TikTok. Its female wrestlers comprise 5 out of the very best 15 most adopted female athletes on this planet, all through Fb, Twitter & Instagram, led by Ronda Rousey with 36.1 million followers.
WWE had higher than 7.5 billion digital and social media views in January and February of this 12 months, up 15% from the similar time frame a 12 months up to now.
The brand new agency plans to commerce on the New York Inventory Trade under the “TKO” ticker picture. Its board can have 11 members, with six being appointed by Endeavor and 5 being appointed by WWE.
“We just like the belongings of UFC and in addition WWE in a world the place linear TV is shedding market share to streaming, thus dwell sport content material is in excessive demand,” wrote Jeffries analyst Randal Konik said in a observe to consumers.
The transaction, which was permitted by the boards of Endeavor and WWE, is concentrated to close throughout the second half of the 12 months. It nonetheless needs regulatory approval.
Shares of World Wrestling Leisure Inc., based totally in Stamford, Connecticut, fell higher than 8% sooner than the opening bell. Shares of Endeavor, based totally in Beverly Hills, California, rose nearly 3%.
