World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is close to being sold to Endeavor Group Holdings for about $9 billion, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The entertainment conglomerate is planning to announce a deal with WWE this week.
Endeavor has been pursuing Vince McMahon's WWE for the past few months, eager to combine the wrestling league with its Ultimate Fighting Championship and become the undisputed king of combat entertainment.
Endeavor will be the majority shareholder of the new company and Ari Emanuel will serve as CEO, the report added. Emanuel will also remain the CEO of Endeavor.
McMahon has run WWE for four decades. He will remain involved in the business after the deal, as will Nick Khan, the company's CEO.
McMahon reinstated himself as executive chairman in January to oversee a strategic review of the company. He left the firm last year following revelations that he had paid millions of dollars to settle sexual misconduct claims. While he was gone, the leadership of the company began to discuss strategic options ahead of the next round of negotiations with companies that air WWE matches on TV.
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WWE delivers scripted entertainment to its live audience for its events akin to a sporting event. Fox Corp and Comcast Corp pay hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the rights to show the matches. The sale is being finalised against the backdrop of Wrestlemania, one of the biggest events on WWE's calendar. This year's event is being held over two days in Los Angeles.
WWE currently has a market value of about $6.8 billion. McMahon was looking to get as much as $9 billion for WWE in a sale. The firm went public in 2021 after scuttling an attempt at an initial public offering in 2019. Its shares closed Friday just 7 cents below their $24 IPO price, giving the company a market value of $11.3 billion.
Emanuel and his leadership team have transformed Endeavor over the years from its roots representing Hollywood actors into a multi-faceted media company. They represent athletes, sell media rights to sporting events and own live events across sports and fashion. They also operate a sports-betting technology company.