Ultimate Fighting Championship proprietor Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. and WWE are combining to create a $21.4bn (£17.3bn) sports activities leisure firm.
Under the deal, Endeavor will maintain a 51% controlling curiosity within the new firm, which doesn’t but have a reputation, whereas present WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) shareholders will maintain 49%.
The corporations put the enterprise worth of UFC at $12.1bn (£9.8bn) and WWE’s worth at $9.3bn (£7.5bn).
The information comes after Vince McMahon, founder and majority shareholder of WWE, returned to the corporate in January and stated it might be up on the market.
There had been hypothesis that firms similar to Disney, Fox, Comcast, Amazon and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund might be .
The new enterprise might be lead by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. Mr McMahon might be govt chairman, the place he presently holds at WWE.
It comes after WWE held its fashionable WrestleMania occasion over the weekend.
Last yr, WWE booked income of $1.3 billion and acquired greater than 16 billion social video views within the last quarter of final yr.
Its feminine wrestlers comprise 5 out of the highest 15 most adopted feminine athletes on the earth, throughout Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, led by Ronda Rousey, who has 36.1 million followers.
McMahon retired as WWE CEO and chair in July final yr following an investigation into alleged misconduct.
His daughter Stephanie McMahon then took over. But she resigned every week after he returned to the board in January.
Source: information.sky.com”