WWE is close to being sold and forming a combat-sports behemoth with the UFC and its parent company.
Vince McMahon’s company has entered into advanced sale talks with UFC parent company Endeavor Group, according to CNBC.
A deal that would join WWE and UFC in a new publicly traded combat sports and entertainment company could be announced as soon as Monday, the report said.
It is expected to value WWE at $9.3 USD billion ($A14bn) after its stock finished trading on Friday at $91.26 USD per share.
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Endeavor, which is headed up by media executive Ari Emmanuel, would own 51 per cent of the new company.
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Vince McMahon is looking to engineer a sale of WWE for reportedly $9 billion ($A13.5bn AUD) as he continues to charitably pay out hush money.
Emmanuel is expected to be the head of the new company, while Vince McMahon will remain on as executive chairman, according to CNBC.
UFC president Dana White and WWE CEO Nick Khan will stay on as presidents of their respective sides of the business.
WWE’s television rights deals with Fox and NBC Universal are both set to expire in 2024.
The 77-year-old McMahon retired from WWE in July amid a sexual harassment and hush-money scandal but returned in January by using his status as the majority voting stockholder to push his way back on the board of directors as executive chairman in order to oversee a potential sale of the company.
His return also his daughter Stephanie McMahon, who had been the co-CEO with Khan in his absence, resign from her post.
McMahon’s son-in-law, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, is still WWE’s head of creative and talent relations.
McMahon has since paid back the $17.5 million USD in investigation costs to WWE and signed a new two-year deal with the company to be executive chairman at a $1.2 million base salary in addition to a 175 per cent bonus target with a value of $4.3 million (both USD).
Selling WWE would end the McMahon family’s hold of the company since McMahon’s father, Vince Sr., started it.
Vince McMahon bought it from his dad in 1982 for $1 million on his way to turning the brand into the multi-billion wrestling juggernaut now set to be sold.
This story originally appeared on the NY Post and is reproduced with permission.