According to a report by the New York Post, Endeavor employees are upset with the payout received by Ari Emmanuel. As a result of the UFC’s big quarter, Emmanuel benefited from the payout.
The story indicates that stock options issued to Endeavor employees were diluted to a point where they held no present value. Endeavor President Mark Shapiro held a conference call per the article by the Post which stated that options held by the company’s agents and executives were “underwater.” The Post story indicates that the reason for the options being “underwater” was due to the pandemic as well as awards made to higher execs like Emmanuel.
The “underwater” options were replaced with newly issued options with higher “strike” prices which are presumably harder to obtain and longer vesting period.
Via NY Post:
“Ari basically made himself whole by issuing himself a ton of UFC equity in the last 12 months when no one else was getting much stock and then those units converted to a huge amount of Endeavor equity,” a source said. “No one else’s slice of the pie got bigger.”
Payout Perspective:
With reports that the UFC is having one of its best years under Endeavor, there is still some contradiction to the heavy earnings. Just last night UFC middleweight contender Jarod Cannonier stated in a post-fight Octagon interview that he was “broke.” Similarly, while Endeavor employees hoped to exercise their stock options, or at least, attain liquidity with the stock, they were told that what they held was of no value. Instead, they were reissued stock that held higher threshholds. Moreover, the news that Emmanuel holds a reported $735 million worth of shares likely angered many rank and file Endeavor employees.
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