Vince McMahon is a self-made billionaire. He’s a true force of nature who built an iconic and successful globally known brand. He’s put his entire life into professional wrestling and the WWE; did you really think he would walk off into the sunset over a mini-scandal that broke this summer?
He left for a few months and gave up his chairman of the board title and CEO gig, but he wasn’t lounging on the beach or getting more botox. No, he was making moves under the radar screen and apparently, according to reports finding a buyer for his company.
He may have found one. Rumors abound that he sold the WWE to the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund. The market value for WWE, which is a public company, is still at $2 billion, even with these headlines. The stock price went up 2.5% after a report from DAZN’s Steven Muehlhausen said Big Mac had entered an agreement to sell — the WWE hinted that no sale agreement was in place as of yet.
While many people started back-pedaling from the news, that doesn’t mean he won’t sell to the Saudis. One thing he most likely will have to do is finish the latest round of media rights negotiations for the new buyers to understand exactly what they are getting.
If the Saudis don’t scoop it up, there could be other obvious bidders, including Amazon, Netflix, Fox, and Comcast. And maybe even Endeavor, the owner of the UFC.
You could get a pleasant surprise in the next few weeks if you own WWE stock. The writing was on the wall when the WWE said it planned to “undertake a review of its strategic alternatives with the goal being to maximize value for all WWE shareholders.”
Let’s say the Saudis do buy the WWE; they will be able to find the cash. The fund has assets worth roughly $620 billion.
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