If the world of sports and entertainment isn’t wild enough it seems as though it might, at the very least, get much bigger soon.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is in the advance stages of talks with the Endeavor Group to sell WWE to the UFC parent company.
First reported by CNBC.com.
The deal is so close that those familiar with talks expect an announcement as soon as Monday. As part of the agreement WWE and UFC would form a new publicly traded company.
According to CNBC and their sources, 51% of WWE would be owned by Endeavor with the rest staying with WWE shareholders. The deal is expected to put the enterprise value of WWE at $9.3 billion while UFC would be valued at $12 billion.
According to the report Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel will act as chief executive for Endeavor and the new company formed to run WWE and UFC. Vince McMahon will be executive chairman, and Dana White will remain as president of UFC. WWE CEO Nick Khan will be president of the wrestling side of the company, according to the report.
Rumors of WWE’s sale had been going around for months with Khan going on tv shows talking about the potential sale of the company.
McMahon recently made a return to WWE following a short absence after it was revealed that he had paid several women millions of dollars in hush money to cover up alleged affairs and misconduct.
McMahon, according to the report, returned to oversee the sale process which the WWE had been working on for several months.
WWE is currently in the middle of broadcasting their two-day showcase Wrestlemania in Los Angeles while the UFC is getting ready for UFC 287 in Miami, FL on April 8th.
