After retiring from the WWE last July and stepping down from his duties as the CEO, Chairman and Head of Creative due to paying nearly $20 million in previously unrecorded expenses, almost $15 million of which were hush money for the sexual misconduct allegations he received from four women over the past 16 years and $5 million of which to the now-defunct foundation of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Vince McMahon forcibly made his way back to the company, returned to the Board of Directors and would ultimately be named the Executive Chairman of the Board. It was believed at the time that Vince would not be involved in the day-to-day affairs and the management structure would remain unchanged and the only reasons he came back is to help the WWE be sold, while also helping the WWE with the talks for a new media rights deal.
Bloomberg reports that WWE’s Executive Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon’s asking price to sell the company is $9 billion and several offers have already been made. Bloomberg also noted that the asking price of Vince McMahon is 37% higher than the $6.5 million market value the company has.
WWE is hoping to have the company sold by mid-2023 and as of this writing there are several potential buyers still in the running such as Endeavor, Comcast, Disney, ESPN, All Elite Wrestling founders and owners Shad Khan and Tony Khan as well as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, but there is no word yet on who is the frontrunner to purchase WWE and who would be interested in keeping Vince McMahon in the company to look after certain aspects of the promotion such as creative.
It is believed that Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are the 2 most interested companies to purchase WWE, but Endeavor would need help from a third party because as Bloomberg said it’s market capitalization of $10.4 billion is only a bit more than what Vince McMahon wants. Comcast, who has also been rumored to be a frontrunner in purchasing WWE, is not interested in buying the company any longer which CNBC’s Nick Faber told Nick Khan earlier this month.
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