No Cash Necessary! PFL Bought Bellator In Straight Stock Deal

While Paramount didn’t end up getting any money from PFL for Bellator, they are now a ‘small minority owner’ of the company via shares.

On Monday (Nov. 20, 2023), the PFL made it official: they were buying Bellator MMA from Paramount Global and folding the fight promotion into their overall business.

According to PFL president Donn Davis, Bellator will continue to exist through 2024 — partially to complete existing TV deals the company had signed. We could see a PFL champions vs. Bellator champions event in February, and there will be eight Bellator International Champion Series events through the year.

So how much did it cost PFL to pick up Bellator from Paramount? According to Sportico, they got the ailing promotion for less than $100 million. That’s a far cry from the previously rumored $200-$500 million sale amount, but still more than the $50 million Paramount paid to buy Bellator in 2011.

And in an interview with The MMA Hour, Davis revealed the buy was made with PFL stock, not actual money.

“So this was a stock deal, not a cash deal,” he said. “They’re a small minority owner going forward. So instead, they said ‘Boy, we really don’t want to sell low, we want to sell low and have an opportunity to make it high. So therefore a deal was made. Paramount [is now a] small minority owner of PFL. Great deal for us. Very happy.”

“It was always this type of deal,” he added. “It just got finalized Saturday afternoon.”

The deal gets PFL the Bellator brand, 210 fighter contracts, and a number of Bellator employees — if they’re interested.

“We sent them a note this morning at the same time they were informed that every one of them is welcome to become part of the new company,” he said. “We’ll talk to them the week after the [PFL] Championship. There won’t be a Bellator company and a PFL company. There’s one company. So we want them to join our one company in roles that we’ll talk to them about.”

“There are 21 employees of Bellator, just as there are 210 fighters,” he added. “Everyone will have a role if they want one.”