For the first time in its entire history dating back to 1953 as Capitol Wrestling Corporation, WWE is no longer owned and controlled by someone named McMahon, as today, the Endeavor takeover of WWE was completed.
Endeavor now owns a majority share of WWE with Ari Emanuel at the top of the pyramid and Vince McMahon no longer the boss. While he is no longer the boss, McMahon has been named as Chairman of the Board of TKO Group Holdings Inc., the company which will control both the WWE and the UFC, now valued at a whopping $21 billion.
Endeavor will hold a 51% controlling interest in TKO while existing WWE shareholders will hold a 49% interest in the new company.
Vince McMahon will own around 16% of the new TKO Group Holdings, valued around $3 billion, but the voting powers that he had at WWE will no longer remain in play.
WWE will continue running its operations from their corporate headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, while the UFC will continue theirs from their HQ in Las Vegas. With the merge, a lot of people are expected to lose their jobs as the company will be consolidating a number of jobs.
Endeavor President and COO Mark Shapiro has targeted as much as $100 million in cost cutting measures, adding that anything from HR to finance to legal to communications, production, distribution and marketing will be subject to mass layoffs.
