Vince McMahon selling nearly a third of stake in WWE's new parent company

There's rarely a dull moment when it comes to WWE, whether in the ring or in the boardroom.

Vince McMahon, the founder of the wrestling promotion, plans to sell what amounts to almost one-third of his stake in new parent company, TKO Group Holdings, according to filings discussed by Front Office Sports. McMahon is believed to offer 8.4 million shares, estimated to be worth more $713 million.

The report indicated that Endeavor itself plans to buy some of the stock McMahon is selling:

"TKO — which is 51% controlled by Endeavor — indicated it intends to buy about $100 million worth of the shares. Endeavor and TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, president and COO Mark Shapiro, and other TKO directors said they intend to buy $1 million, $1 million, and $850,000 worth of the stock, respectively."

It's not directly stated if this decision relates to concerns about investigations on McMahon from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice. The executive chairman of TKO returned to the WWE fold after a self-imposed exile of sorts after the company looked into secret payments in relation to sexual misconduct allegations. Under SEC guidelines, no one is allowed to take a board seat or serve in an executive capacity of a publicly traded company if there are civil or criminal liabilities against that individual.

Since TKO launched on the New York Stock Exchange in September, Endeavor has reshaped WWE's media future in major ways. On Tuesday, the company signed a five-year pact for "WWE NXT," the show for its developmental brand, with the CW. In late September, it signed a separate five-year, $1.4 billion deal to bring "WWE Smackdown" back to the USA Network. Both agreements start in October 2024, with negotiations seemingly still open for the company's longtime flagship program, "Monday Night Raw."

The stocks for both Endeavor and TKO have ebbed and flowed some over the past two months in relation to news about WWE, yet shareholders will likely remain bullish on the companies over the long run. Though media companies have struggled mightily in 2023 due to the impacts of dual strikes from writers and actors in Hollywood, the decline of cable and satellite subscribers, and the impact of inflation on spending, live sports (including "sports entertainment," as McMahon infamously dubbed his promotion's content) are the linchpin of the entire media ecosystem. So long as a network has something that can attract sizeable amounts of viewers like WWE, they have a chance to perform well on those evenings against its competition.