World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. has reached a deal to combine with Endeavor Group Holdings Inc., the owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
The two companies said Monday that Endeavor will hold a 51% controlling interest in their newly formed, publicly traded entity, with WWE owning the remaining 49%.
The deal, which was earlier reported by CNBC and then The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, gives UFC an enterprise value of $12.1 billion and WWE an enterprise value of $9.3 billion.
The companies said they would each contribute cash to the new venture so that it holds about $150 million, with all excess cash being swept to UFC when the deal closes.
WWE shareholders will roll their existing equity into the yet-to-be-named new entity, which will serve as a parent company for UFC and WWE and be listed under the ticker symbol “TKO” on the New York Stock Exchange.
The deal has been unanimously approved by the directors of both companies and is expected to close in the second half of 2023.
The transaction arrives less than a year after Vince McMahon, WWE’s majority owner and former chief executive, briefly left the company following a series of articles from The Wall Street Journal that detailed payments he had made for decades to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct.
The revelations and subsequent findings of a WWE board investigation led to Mr. McMahon’s retirement after 40 years, but he returned in January to pursue a sale, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
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