Vince McMahon is selling 8.4 million shares of his Class A TKO stock.
According to a press release from TKO, Executive Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon is selling 8.4 million shares of his Class A stock in the company, approximately 30% of his total 28 million shares. Endeavor head Ari Emanuel and COO Mark Shapiro have both expressed interest in a certain portion of these shares, as have other company directors.
A portion of the press release can be read below:
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO) (“TKO” or the “Company”), a premium sports and entertainment company, today announced that one of its stockholders, Mr. Vincent K. McMahon (the “Selling Stockholder”), intends to offer for sale in an underwritten secondary offering 8,400,000 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock, par value $0.00001 (the “Class A Common Stock”), pursuant to the Company’s shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), of which the Company intends to repurchase from the underwriter approximately $100.0 million of shares of our Class A Common Stock.
The Selling Stockholder will receive all of the net proceeds from this offering. No shares are being sold by the Company. In connection with the offering, Ariel Emanuel, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and director, Mark Shapiro, the Company’s President, Chief Operating Officer and director, and certain other of the Company’s directors have indicated an interest in purchasing up to $1.0 million, $1.0 million and $850.0 thousand, respectively, of the Company’s Class A Common Stock offered in the offering at the public offering price.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC will act as book-running manager for this offering. MUFG Securities Americas Inc. will act as co-manager for this offering.
A shelf registration statement on Form S-1 (including a prospectus) relating to the offering of Class A Common Stock has been declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and an accompanying prospectus. You may obtain these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. When available, copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus related to the offering may also be obtained by contacting Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.
How Did The Stock Market Respond To Vince McMahon Selling TKO Shares?
As reported by Brandon Thurston, TKO shares unsurprisingly dipped in value following the press release. Thurston writes:
“The stock is unsurprisingly down in after-hours trading, just over $80 right now. But 8,400,000 TKO shares have a market value of around $700 million.”
The news comes shortly after Vince McMahon was listed among risk factors in a recent SEC filing from TKO Group Holdings.
In an update posted via Brandon Thurston on November 15th, McMahon has since sold the shares at $76.41 per share, bringing a net profit of over $641 million dollars and leaving McMahon with 12% of company shares.
Vince McMahon ended up selling 8,400,000 $TKO shares at a price of $76.41/share after underwriting discount and commission to Morgan Stanley.
Comes out to net proceeds of $641,844,000.
He still holds about 20 million TKO shares, ~12% of the company. He held ~16% before this. pic.twitter.com/ewMY6KhOWu
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) November 15, 2023
The next day [November 16th], it was revealed how much stock Vince McMahon needed to remain in control of his position in WWE.