The UFC announced the appointment of Nakisa Bidarian as Chief Financial Officer of the company per UFC press release. Bidarian replaces John Mulkey as CFO of the company.
Mulkey’s LinkedIn Profile only identifies him as Former UFC Chief Financial Officer and not another position in place of his former title. According to his profile on the site, he worked as CFO from March 2006 until December 2015. The Official UFC press release announcing the new CFO of the company does not mention Mulkey at all.
Bidarian has been with the company for a while as he formerly served as UFC’s Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Ventures. According to the press release he will focus on “key financial initiatives, strategic goals and supporting the organization’s overall growth by guiding business decisions and analyzing their financial components.” He was formerly responsible for Group Strategy for the UFC which included corporate development, strategic planning, research, analytics with respect to the UFC Gym.
Bidarian previously worked with Mubadala Devlopment Company, a multi-billion-dollar sovereign investment company based out of Abu Dhabi. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in financial economics from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Bidarian took over the helm as CFO on January 4th.
Payout Perspective:
There is no word as to whether Mulkey was removed as the CFO or left on his own accord. It does seem suspect that there was no announcement as to his whereabouts from any account. Frankly, if you update your LinkedIn Profile to state you are no longer with a company it usually includes your new work location. With the UFC doing well financially in 2015, it would be interesting to know the reason for the change.
Is it about the loan due? Hahaha…abu dhabi is it the country of flash entertainment hahahahahaha
Seems flash main sponsor in sporting events is mubadala….same owners as flash? Hahahahaha…is flash checking or controlling theyre investment in the UFC? no wonder fertita declared theyre making such and such hahahahaha
Is flash taking more control of the UFC? Was it in 2008 or 2009 that they bought in….are they asking Where’s the MONEY? hahahahaha
@ Tops the loan is not a big issue, the UFC is way too profitable for that.
As that great three-part Dave Meltzer report showed, the UFC has dramatically changed in the past few years. Now, thing like Fight Pass, fox deal, foreign TV have grown to be the most lucrative part of the business and that despite 2015 being a record-setting year.
It’s quite feasible the UFC switched to a CFO they felt will open new doors for them in different market and who has contacts with a more diversified source of cash flow.