Endeavor Group Holdings, the holding company for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), acquired Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for $9.3 billion today (April 3). Ariel Emanuel, the chief executive for Endeavor, will lead the resulting company, which is expected to be listed on the stock exchange under the ticker “TKO,” according to the regulatory filing.
“Together, we will be a $21+ billion live sports and entertainment powerhouse with a collective fanbase of more than a billion people and an exciting growth opportunity,” McMahon said in a press release. UFC and WWE combined are worth more than $21 billion, according to the filing. Endeavor is hoping the new, currently unnamed company will drive up its price for television and streaming rights, according to the filing.
The sale marks an end to seven decades of WWE’s ownership within the McMahon family. McMahon began exploring a sale in January and will serve as executive chair of the board. Its former CEO Nick Khan will be president of WWE.
The new wrestling juggernaut will own a huge share of the mixed martial arts industry. After a brief 2.3 percent surge in Endeavor’s stock following the announcement, it tanked 11 percent to $21.78 per share, suggesting investors might feel pessimistic of the company’s future. In the coming months, Emanuel will have to prove to Endeavor’s shareholders the acquisition will bring them value while navigating a sliding media market.
Ari Emanuel loves an acquisition
Emanuel has worked at Endeavor for nearly three decades. In 1995, he co-founded Endeavor Agency, the talent agency that represented Adam Sandler, Mark Wahlberg and Lisa Kudrow in its early years. Prior to founding Endeavor, he worked at other talent agencies including Creative Arts Agency (CAA), Intertalent and International Creative Management, which fired him when the company learned of Emanuel’s plans to form a rival agency. In 2001, Patrick Whitesell, CAA’s talent head, joined Endeavor and expanded its roster to include Drew Barrymore, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston.
In 2009, Emanuel spearheaded the agency’s merger with 111-year-old William Morris Agency, which represented the largest combination of Hollywood agencies at the time. He became the co-CEO of the resulting company, named William Morris Endeavor (WME). Forbes named him in its Businessperson of the Year list the following year, alongside Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Endeavor, then known as WME, continued to be a merger and acquisitions powerhouse in entertainment under Emanuel. It bought talent agency IMG for $2.2 billion and Donald Trump’s Miss Universe Organization for an undisclosed amount. It purchased UFC in 2016 for $4 billion, representing the most expensive price for a sports organization. Endeavor filed to go public in 2019 and entered the stock market in 2021, valued at $10.6 billion. The company’s value increased to $12.1 billion this year, according to the most recent filing.
Emanuel in politics and art
Emanuel has a muddy place in politics. Former president Barack Obama elected Emanuel’s brother, Rahm Emanuel, to be the White House chief of staff, where he worked for nearly two years. The Endeavor CEO helped fundraise for Obama’s two successful presidential runs and donated $2,700 to Hilary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. He also worked as Trump’s talent agent prior to Trump’s presidential run. Emanuel came under fire in 2016 for refusing to release archives from Miss Universe that could damage Trump’s campaign.
He has been outspoken against antisemitism, having called on companies to stop advertising with Kanye West in the Financial Times last year. West has a history of posting antisemitic content.
In 2019, the Observer listed Emanuel in its Arts Power List as a changemaker in the arts industry. Through IMG, he purchased Frieze, the company supporting art fairs and an art magazine. He has also worked on the boards of Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art and a nonprofit bringing art education to California schools.
