Wednesday marked the official closing of Endeavor’s acquisition of World Wrestling Entertainment and the integration with Ultimate Fighting Championships to create the TKO Group.
The combined group was on Wall Street to ring the opening bell in honor of the occasion. (above pic from Triple H’s X account)
Here we go again @TKOGrp @WWE @ufc pic.twitter.com/vOJe0xU2zH
— danawhite (@danawhite) September 12, 2023
Endeavor owns a 51 percent controlling interest in the new company, with existing WWE shareholder owning 41 percent. With the move, Vince McMahon returns to prominence within the WWE after being ousted last summer and then working behind the scenes for the past year or so.
For those wondering, the prospectus on the transaction is huge.
— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) September 7, 2023
Meet TKO Group Holdings, Inc. a premium sports, entertainment, and media company made up of @ufc and @WWE.
— NYSE 🏛 (@NYSE) September 12, 2023
Join us in celebrating its listing of $TKO 🔔 pic.twitter.com/ZWEmyWGUCq
Nothing will change at the UFC as Dana White remains in control. As mentioned, Vince McMahon will be the executive chairman of TKO while Nick Khan is the WWE CEO.
Today is the first day of trading for $TKO, the combined @UFC/@WWE company.
— Eben Novy-Williams (@novy_williams) September 12, 2023
The business pitch is one of synergy. I'm most interested to see how they leverage that in:
1) media negotiations
2) talks w/ local host governments
3) potential crossover athletes
4) other IP
As Eben Novy-Williams points out, there are some interesting things to look at with the official uniting of the two companies. For MMA fans, the UFC media rights will be up soon and even though it will likely remain at ESPN (IMO), would the WWE’s right come over as well. The WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has made it a lot of money. The UFC is already doing business with the UAE, but one could see the MMA organization working with KSA soon too. While I am not as high as WWE crossover athletes to UFC (except Brock Lesnar), I do think that some UFC athletes may look to WWE after their MMA careers are done.
According to Sportico, the UFC and WWE hit 2022 revenue of $2.4 billion and a 10 percent annual revenue growth rate since 2019. The merger will secure $50-$100 million in annual operating synergies although that number may be conservative.
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