WWE and UFC are merging into a sports entertainment behemoth
by Chris Welch from The Verge - All Posts on (#6AEFN)
Image: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images Just as CNBC scooped yesterday, Ari Emanuel's Endeavor Group is acquiring World Wrestling Entertainment and will spin out a new publicly traded company that combines it with Ultimate Fighting Championship. The deal values WWE, which for decades has been owned and run by the McMahon family, at $9.3 billion and the Endeavor-owned UFC at $12.1 billion.
Both companies expect the agreement to close in late 2023. When it does, the result will be a combined sports entertainment powerhouse with fervent, loyal audiences for each brand. WWE just wrapped up WrestleMania, its biggest live event spectacle of the year, over two nights at SoFi Stadium. The company claims it reached a combined attendance of 161,892 people in the stadium. The event...