Endeavor executives Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro have given an update on WWE’s talks for a new media rights deal.
Five months after originally being announced, Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE became official today. TKO Group Holdings, a merged company with WWE and the UFC, is now trading on the stock market. Endeavor holds a controlling interest of 51 percent in the new company, while WWE shareholders hold a 49 percent interest.
WWE’s media rights deals for Raw and SmackDown will be up in October 2024. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Shapiro said they’re having “very encouraging conversations with several players and platforms” regarding new rights deals.
“We’re having very encouraging conversations with several players and platforms at the moment on WWE Raw and SmackDown,” Shapiro said. “We’re cautiously optimistic, we’re, in many ways, being valued as a unicorn because we’re a year-round. WWE is a full calendar, sports and entertainment platform with significant engagement, strong reach and attractive demos. And that bodes well for these conversations and I believe that we’ll have results that are in line with market expectations.”
Shapiro stated on CNBC that they’re in discussions with both linear and digital platforms.
Emanuel added that they feel very good about where they’re at with the negotiations. He thinks the new rights deals will be line with what the market thinks will happen.
During New York Fashion Week recently, Emanuel and Paul “Triple H” Levesque were spotted sitting next to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Amazon has been rumored as a potential landing spot for SmackDown.
SmackDown currently airs on Fox. Raw and NXT both air on USA Network.
Emanuel is the CEO of both Endeavor and TKO Group Holdings. Shapiro is the president and chief operating officer of both companies.
Representatives from Endeavor, WWE, and UFC were at the New York Stock Exchange this morning to ring the opening bell. On social media, Levesque wrote that this is the most exciting time that he’s ever been a part of in the industry.
New documents filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday have revealed 10 of the 11 board members for TKO Group Holdings, the company to be created through the WWE-UFC merger.
Six of the new company’s board will be selected by Endeavor and the remaining five by WWE. Today’s filing listed the following names, along with their ages, as those confirmed:
Vincent K. McMahon (WWE), 77
Ariel Emmanuel (Endeavor), 62
Egon P. Durban (Endeavor), 49
Nick Khan (WWE), 48
Steven R. Koonin (WWE), 66
Jonathan A. Kraft (Endeavor), 59
Sonya E. Medina (Endeavor), 47
Mark Shapiro (Endeavor), 53
Nancy R. Tellem (WWE), 70
Carrie Wheeler (Endeavor), 51
The remaining board member to be confirmed will be selected by WWE.
From today’s filing:
“Under the terms of the transaction agreement, upon the completion of the Transactions, the New PubCo Board will consist of 11 members who will be determined prior to the Closing, five of whom will be selected by WWE, of whom (x) two will be members of the WWE management team (one of whom will be Mr. McMahon) and (y) three will be independent, and six of whom will be selected by Endeavor, of whom (x) three will be members of the Endeavor management team or Endeavor directors (one of whom will be Mr. Emanuel) and (y) three will be independent.”
Durban is the co-CEO of global technological investment firm Silver Lake and serves on the board for Endeavor Group Holdings.
Koonin has been the CEO of the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena since 2014. He’s also a former president of TBS.
Kraft is the president of the New England Patriots and the Kraft family holding company, The Kraft Group. He’s the son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Medina is the president and CEO of Reach Resilience and a co-founder of Greenlight Growth Capital, LLC.
Tellem is the executive chairperson and chief media officer of media company Eko and a former president of Xbox Entertainment Studios.
Wheeler is CEO of Opendoor Technologies Inc. and has served on the board of directors of numerous companies.
Khan currently serves as CEO of WWE and has been with the company since August 2020. McMahon was named executive chairman of WWE in January after a brief sabbatical from the company. Shapiro has been president of Endeavor since December 2018. Emanuel founded the company in 1995 and currently serves as its CEO.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson says he’s excited to see what Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and Vince McMahon can accomplish together.
Rock appeared on Thursday’s edition of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street to promote the XFL and his Teremana tequila brand. During the interview, Rock was asked for his thoughts on the Endeavor/WWE deal and if he feels McMahon and Emanuel will work well together.
Rock said:
I see smooth sailing with those guys. They’ve known each other for a very, very long time. We all have, as a matter of fact. And I see smooth sailing with this. This has been a long time coming.
When you think about where Vince started… I often talk about my seven bucks moment, how I had seven bucks in my pocket when I was cut from the Canadian Football League. Vince had his seven bucks moment too as well when he leveraged every dollar he had for the very first WrestleMania. Years later, he creates this merger with Ari that’s in the billions of dollars. When I say smooth sailing, I mean these guys are adamant on creating an incredible conglomerate that’s going to entertain the masses. And I think between WWE, UFC, bull riding, and probably some of the other things that are coming down the pike, I’m excited about this merger.
Rock also mentioned that he “just connected with Vince the other day.”
On Wednesday, Emanuel told CNBC he plans on letting WWE “do what they like to do” while he looks to save on costs, drive sponsorship revenue, and follow the same model he did with the UFC.
While it has been over 7 years now since Rock wrestled a match, his daughter Simone is just starting her WWE career as a member of The Schism on NXT. The 21-year-old now named Ava had her first match at Stand & Deliver last month. She also performed at an NXT live event in Largo, Florida on April 14. Rock recently told The Pivot that wrestling helped save his relationship with his daughter.
Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel has commented on his company’s acquisition of WWE last month.
WWE and UFC will merge into a newly created company as part of the deal. Emanuel will be the new company’s CEO while Vince McMahon will serve as Executive Chairman. Emanuel spoke about the deal on Wednesday during an appearance on CNBC’s ‘Squawk on the Street.’
He was asked if he plans on letting WWE “do what they want to do,” and responded:
Exactly, and we do what we do as it relates to saving some cost, driving some revenue with sponsorship, international sales. Like we did at UFC, we’re going to do 2.0 at WWE.
When asked about upcoming television rights negotiations, Emanuel noted that with WWE and UFC’s deals expiring at different times, it puts the two brands on separate paths.
Emanuel said:
Right now, we’re focused on saving some cost, doing sponsorship, which they didn’t have. It’s the same formula we used at UFC.
[WWE’s] rights are open now, [UFC’s] in a year and a half from now. I think they are on separate time frames.
Emanuel’s comments about separate television rights agreements echo what WWE’s Nick Khan told Axios last month. However, Khan wouldn’t rule out the possibility of the new company seeking a combined streaming deal for both WWE and UFC. WWE’s current deal with NBC Universal for streaming rights expires in 2026 and UFC’s deal with ESPN+ in 2026.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC taped Sunday, both Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon went into deep detail about the big Monday news that WWE will be acquired and merge with UFC into a new combat sports powerhouse.
A jubilant McMahon, sporting his new look, was asked about whether he would remain in creative going forward. He said “yes and no” and that he would remain at a higher level, but not “in the weeds” as he said he has loved to be in the past.
McMahon said the merger is “the biggest thing Ari Emanuel and Vince McMahon have ever done. Combining forces like this, there’s never been anything like this. People will be talking about this for a long time.”
Following regulatory approval that could come within the next 4-6 months, the yet-to-be named company will combine the two combat sports brands in a way that excites Emanuel.
“It’s very rare to get iconic brands like the UFC and WWE together. Individually, they are incredible assets. Together, with the flywheel of Endeavor, I believe it makes them unicorns,” he said, later saying they are working on the new name of this property.
Emanuel said he has known McMahon for 23 years as he first represented them as a young agent. He put McMahon over as a visionary that saw the explosion of cable, pay-per-view, taking the company public, and going direct to consumer before others in his space did.
“Just look out,” he said.
The scandal and legacy
Asked by Scott Wapner about whether last summer’s hush money scandal helped pushed a sale along quicker than he would have liked, McMahon said it didn’t “in and of itself” and the sale would have happened anyway.
McMahon was asked about his legacy with the sale, the last year of controversy, and everything else.
“I have made mistakes, obviously, personally and professionally throughout my 50 year career. I have owned up to every single one of them and then moved on. I’m not sure on legacy stuff, I’m not going to write it,” he said, adding he has had an extraordinary amount of fun, a great passion for what he has done, and “did the biggest deal (Emanuel) has ever done in his life.”
Emanuel joked he would have bodyslammed McMahon if he thought was going to leave following a sale, answering “Oh my god, yes” when asked if he wanted him to stick around.
“Him being able to utilize what we have built in our flywheel, I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” he explained, saying that between McMahon, UFC president Dana White and what Endeavor has built, “That’s pretty unstoppable.”
When it comes to being talked into staying, McMahon said “not that much” as the company is his passion and he’s loved building WWE all his life and now with the opportunity to grow the company further.
“I wasn’t going to let him (walk away),” Emanuel said, adding that it’s an honor to him to have McMahon stay “because of what his vision for what the business is and where it’s going.”
With McMahon reporting to Emanuel, what happens if there’s a disagreement?
“If we disagree on something that we want to do, we’re not doing it,” Emanuel said, saying the same relationship will apply as it does with Dana White and Silver Lake where Endeavor has nothing to do with the creative process and focus on all the “back stuff.”
“That’s called a relationship. We will work it out,” he explained.
Both men downplayed McMahon gaining the full rights to his likeness and story with Emanuel saying, “It’s fair. It’s his legacy. He is the one that should control his legacy.”
“This is going to be UFC 2.0”
McMahon said the company needed to evolve and the synergies Endeavor brings are “totally different than everyone else.
“It’s the right time to do the right thing and the next evolution of WWE. I could probably do what Ari is with the UFC, but it would probably take me ten years. When I got to that ten years, Ari would be ten years ahead so it makes all the sense in the world for all the synergies and so we can extract all the value we can from the marketplace,” he said.
Emanuel felt neither WWE or Endeavor weren’t getting the pure value out of what they offer, saying that, “Combined, it’s rarified air.”
Emanuel said they paid a fair price and paid a little bit for control premium. He feels that with Endeavor’s cost cuts, WWE’s new deals coming up, and cost savings, they are in a great position going forward.
He said people criticized them for buying IMG and UFC, but, “This is going to be UFC 2.0 as it relates to all the things in the flywheel,” and the “unbelievably attractive economics” in doing so.
What did Wall Street miss in not seeing the deal? “Everything,” according to Emanuel.
When asked about the possibility of TV rights increases, Emanuel touted Raw and SmackDown’s rating increases, the key demos it appeals to, and how their rate card is “way below market by a significant amount.” He feels that with content being king and everything that WWE brings to the table, “I think they’re going to get a proper price” with the next round of rights negotiations.
