Yesterday, CNBC announced that Endeavor was in talks to purchase WWE. Well it seems talks likely continued well into the night during Wrestlemania 39; WWE’s biggest event of the year.
Today, Endeavor issued a press release stating they are officially purchasing WWE for $9.3 billion dollars. They will be combined with the UFC’s approximated value of $12.1 billion and forming a new publicly listed company with a value of over $21 billion dollars.
Per release, this will be the power structure going forward;
The new company will be led by Emanuel (Chief Executive Officer), who will also continue in his role as Chief Executive Officer of Endeavor, McMahon (Executive Chairman of the Board) and Mark Shapiro, who will be President and Chief Operating Officer of both Endeavor and the new company. Dana White will continue in his role as President of UFC and Nick Khan will serve as President of WWE. The Board of Directors will consist of 11 members who will be appointed at a later date, six of whom will be appointed by Endeavor and five of whom by WWE.
Also during the official announcement of the purchase, McMahon confirmed that there will be cross promotion between the two entities. To what extent has yet to be confirmed but it will be interesting to see what certain contracts will look like going forward. For example will promising amateur wrestlers be able to sign deal allowing them to do both pro wrestling and MMA.
We will continue to provide more information as the situation develops.
