WWE's Vince McMahon Puts More Than 8 Million Shares Of Class A TKO Stock Up For Sale
Executive Chairman of TKO Group Holdings Vince McMahon is getting ready to sell a significant chunk of his ownership in the company, even ceding some of it to board members Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro.
According to a new announcement from TKO, McMahon is selling 8.4 million shares of his Class A stock in the company, roughly 30% of his stake in the company, which Brandon Thurston says is worth roughly $700 million at the stock's closing price. TKO will buy $100 million worth of the stock, while Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will purchase $1 million worth of the stock, and Endeavor president Mark Shapiro will purchase 850k of the stock. The remaining stock, worth roughly $598 million at closing price, will be sold to the public.
On Tuesday, McMahon was listed by the company as a possible liability in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. This comes less than two months since TKO filed that all 28.84 million shares of McMahon's Class A stock in the newly minted company were listed for sale, which led to speculation that the company was looking for a way to excise the controversial executive, especially since McMahon was served with a subpoena for a Federal Grand Jury, as well as a search warrant.
McMahon briefly retired last year after WWE launched an investigation into his use of company funds to make hush money payments to former employees, but returned to help facilitate the merger with UFC in April. Since then, the oft-outspoken executive has been seemingly pushed out of his role as the creative force behind WWE, with Endeavor siding with WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque in times of conflict.