Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group, the parent of UFC, is in the final stage of purchasing Vince McMahon’s WWE and combining the UFC and WWE into one publicly traded company.
WWE has been searching for a buyer for months and CNBC reported on Sunday that an official announcement could come as early as Monday. The deal would restructure the company executives to run the newly created company made up of both pay-per-view giants.
Endeavor will own 51% of the WWE and the WWE shareholders would control 49%. The deal would give WWE an enterprise value of $9.3 billion, according to the report.
Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will oversee Endeavor and the newly formed company. Vince McMahon and Endeavor president Mark Shapiro will be the executive chairmen while Dana White will remain UFC president. Current WWE CEO Nick Khan will be the president of the pro wrestling side of the brand.
he 77-year-old McMahon retired from WWE in July surrounded by a sexual harassment and hush-money scandal but returned in January by using his status as the majority voting stockholder. He was able to force his way back on the board of directors as executive chairman to oversee a sale of the company.
UFC Parent company Endeavor finalizing details to purchase WWE
