Endeavor, the company that owns and operates the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), just announced that it has just acquired a 51% stake in Vince McMahon’s WWE. And with that, the UFC and WWE will merge to create a singular entity, publically trading under TKO, with both McMahon and Endeavor chief executive Ari Emanuel acting as heads of the new multi-billion-dollar live sports and entertainment company.
The move is reportedly worth US$21 billion (AU$31 billion), making the UFC the majority stakeholder in the long-running professional wrestling outfit.
“Together, we will be a $21 billion+ live sports and entertainment powerhouse with a collective fanbase of more than a billion people and an exciting growth opportunity,” said McMahon in a statement released to the media today.
Few details have been revealed on the company moving forward but as per the ABC, there will be a combined board with five WWE members and six from Endeavor taking effect immediately. This follows McMahon’s previously stated interest in selling the WWE to ESPN and Amazon.
Fox Sports reports that UFC president Dana White and WWE CEO Nick Khan are two of the members of the board, representing their respective sides of the newly formed combat sports juggernaut.
“This is a rare opportunity to create global live sports and entertainment pureplay built for where the industry is headed,” said Emanuel.
“For decades, Vince and his team have demonstrated an incredible track record of innovation and shareholder value creation, and we are confident that Endeavor can deliver significant additional value for shareholders by bringing UFC and WWE together.”
The UFC and WWE merger is expected to be complete by the end of this year, pending regulatory approval. As it stands, both companies saw equal individual success last year. WWE managed to scrap in US$1.29 billion (AU$1.9 billion) while UFC and Endeavor slightly topped that with $1.3 billion (AU$1.9 billion) in revenue.
Brock Lesnar vs Alexander Volkanovski, anyone?
