Endeavour, UFC’s parent company, along with NBCU’s parent, Comcast, have emerged as the frontrunners to acquire the WWE, according to pro-wrestling reporter, Brandon Thurston.
Last year, while on a podcast for The Ringer, Endeavour president, Mark Shapiro, expressed interest in acquiring the company: “We’ve shown [Wall Street] and frankly, everybody else in the industry that cares, what we can do when you put the UFC on top of the Endeavor platform.”
“There are just all kinds of levers we can flip. When it comes to WWE? Yes, that would be something interesting and it would be worth exploring,” he said.
In addition to the potential takeover by Comcast, the WWE has an OTT deal with platform, Peacock and a broadcast partnership with USA Network, an NBCU channel.
News of a potential sale came about after CNBC reported that the organisation hired JP Morgan as advisors to a potential buyout before The Wall Street Journal reported that Vince McMahon was planning a sale of the company once he returned to the board.
After McMahon’s announcement to return to the company, the WWE’s value rose 17% to over US$6 billion.
Additionally, Front Office Sports reported that the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund could make an approach with the country already having a deal in place to hold to events which would net the organisation US$100 million.
The announcement comes after the WWE extended their broadcast partnership with Foxtel.
