UFC and WWE formally accomplished their merger on Tuesday following information of the skilled wrestling firm’s acquisition by Endeavor earlier this yr. The TKO group formally launched on Tuesday morning and is now buying and selling on the New York Inventory Alternate.
TKO opened with a valuation of $21.4 billion. UFC’s dad or mum firm Endeavor will personal 51% of TKO and WWE shareholders will obtain a 49% stake. The TKO board includes integral members of the UFC and WWE brass. Vince McMahon, previously the controlling shareholder of WWE, will function government chairman of TKO. UFC president Dana White will now function as UFC CEO. Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will even be CEO of TKO and Endeavor government Mark Shapiro will function TKO’s president and chief working officer. Nick Khan will perform as WWE president.
Expectations are that UFC and WWE will proceed to run as separate applications, UFC senior government vp and chief working officer Lawrence Epstein informed ESPN. White will proceed to run the day-by-day of UFC and Paul Levesque will head up WWE inventive. UFC and WWE could start holding main occasions on the identical weekend in a single metropolis and leverage their mixed power when negotiating with tourism authorities.
“The place we need to get is the place each UFC fan is a WWE fan and each WWE fan is a UFC fan.”
The merger additionally opens the door to future crossovers. Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey, for instance, have already received world championships in each organizations. Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier just lately acted as a particular visitor referee at WWE’s Excessive Guidelines occasion in October. Cormier was current at Tuesday’s inventory trade opening in New York.
“UFC fighters are going to remain targeted on the UFC and WWE superstars clearly do one thing totally different in our ring,” Khan stated. “… However you additionally see within the UFC folks with large personalities who, as soon as their UFC run is finished, as soon as the UFC and the fighter says, ‘Hey, perhaps now’s the time to name it a day,’ may these folks have an extended life at WWE, an prolonged life with TKO? We predict so.”
Information of the merger first made headlines in April through the weekend of WrestleMania 39.