Shockwaves were sent out throughout the entertainment world last weekend when the filings for a $21b merger between WWE and the Endeavour Group were made public, formally confirming the long rumoured sale of WWE.
Having retired from WWE last year following last July amidst allegations of sexual misconduct and hush money payments, it looked like McMahon had fully parted ways with the company with a new structure put in place that included Son In Law Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque leading the creative output for WWE.
McMahon, however, returned in January as he exercised his right as significant shareholder to return himself to the Board Of Directors with a specific focus of facilitating a sale of the company.
With the sale now completed, Endeavour CEO Ari Emanuel has appointed ‘The Genetic Jackhammer’ as Executive Chairman, with one prominent wrestling journalist believing the deal to be excellent news for 77 year old McMahon.
WWE deal reportedly good news for Vince McMahon
Speaking on Wrestling Obsever Radio, Dave Meltzer commented on the deal, noting that he felt the sale was a positive thing for McMahon:
“It was the best thing for Vince McMahon. He’s back in power, he’s not going to be replaced unless he wants to. And he’s going to be much richer…he now has 19 percent of UFC, which is even more profitable than WWE.
And his company and UFC are going to be more profitable because they’re going to laying people off and cutting expenses while maintaining the same fixed revenues which are their media rights revenues”
Meltzer would go on to futher explore the deal, believing that the merger made sense for all parties involved:
“It does make sense to own both because they are similar companies. They are basically the same company just in two different realms, in so many ways, including the way they underpay talent, the way they market things to the consumer, the way they get their revenue.
UFC is a little bit better with sponsorships, WWE has a little bit higher media rights deals. You know, WWE can run more shows. They both can sell shows to foreign governments.”
H/T: Wrestletalk for the above transcription