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Former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. Chief Executive Vince McMahon, who retired last year following a sexual-harassment scandal that ended his decades-long grip on the industry, is getting off the mat and plans to return and sell the company, according to a Wall Street Journal report Thursday.
McMahon, who is majority owner of the sports-entertainment empire valued at $5.2 billion, plans to elect himself and two former WWE
WWE,
executives, Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, to the board, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
“The only way for WWE to fully capitalize on this opportunity is for me to return as executive chairman and support the management team in the negotiations for our media rights and to combine that with a review of strategic alternatives,” McMahon said in a statement. “My return will allow WWE, as well as any transaction counterparties, to engage in these processes knowing they will have the support of the controlling shareholder.”
The return of McMahon, 77, and the others would require three current directors to vacate their positions, the Journal reported. The prospect of McMahon’s return and sale of WWE sent the company shares hurtling 11% higher in extended trading late Thursday to nearly a 52-week high.
Comcast Corp.’s
CMCSA,
NBCUniversal or Fox Corp.
FOXA,
are seen as possible suitors for the media business that racked up record revenue ($1.09 billion) and profit ($180 million) last year, though potential buyers might have some serious misgivings, say longtime wrestling observers.
“[Vince] certainly has the voting power,” Brandon Thurston, a reporter at Wrestlenomics, told MarketWatch. “I imagine his adversaries may throw obstacles in his way. The big questions are whether federal government can impede him or the company due to the unrecorded expenses or other misgivings, and whether NBCU, Fox or other potential media partners want to work with a company led by someone with seven known sexual misconduct allegations against him.”
WWE, whose popular programming is a weekly fixture on Fox and USA Network, has indicated a willingness to explore deals. “We’re open for business on anything and everything, and even some of the business plans that we’ve announced recently, I think, are different or unique to what the company has traditionally done,” Nick Khan, WWE’s president, said on the Recode Media podcast in August 2021. “So we’re open for business. If somebody calls, we’ll listen, but we’re not active. We’re not out in the marketplace trying to change that structure.”
Read more: Pile Driver: At age 76, Vince McMahon’s finishing wrestling move is simple financial engineering
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