{"id":267271,"date":"2023-04-03T14:25:50","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T19:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=267271"},"modified":"2023-04-07T16:59:07","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T21:59:07","slug":"endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/","title":{"rendered":"Endeavor Combining UFC, Wrestling in $9.3 Billion Bid for WWE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EDR), the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), announced Monday it offered $9.3 billion for World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) in a transaction that would create a combat sports and sports entertainment Goliath.<\/p>\n

\"\"
WWE boss Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania 38. Endeavor is buying WWE for $9.3 billion. (Image: Wrestling Inc.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The suitor, which also owns IMG Arena and operates the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and Euroleague, will control 51% of the new company while WWE investors will own the rest. Plans are in place to change the stock ticker of the newly formed company to \u201cTKO,\u201d paying homage to the term \u201ctechnical knockout.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ari Emanuel will remain as CEO of the new company while Dana White<\/a> will stay as head of UFC. Nick Khan will serve as president of WWE. WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon will also have a leadership role at the new firm, according to a statement.<\/p>\n

This is a rare opportunity to create a global live sports and entertainment pureplay built for where the industry is headed,” said Emanuel in the press release. \u201cFor decades, Vince and his team have demonstrated an incredible track record of innovation and shareholder value creation, and we are confident that Endeavor can deliver significant additional value for shareholders by bringing UFC and WWE together.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The deal, which is estimated to generate $50 million to $100 million in annual cost savings, is scheduled to close in the second half of this year.<\/p>\n

Betting Angles in Endeavor, WWE Marriage<\/h2>\n

Beyond UFC\u2019s rising popularity with bettors, there are some gaming implications in Endeavor\u2019s bid for the prominent wrestling organization.<\/p>\n

\n

For example, the suitor\u2019s IMG Arena unit provides data to sportsbook operators. Last year, Endeavor bolstered that business with the acquisition of the OpenBet<\/a> sports wagering unit from the company then known as Scientific Games. OpenBet clients include DraftKings, FanDuel, William Hill, and WynnBet, among others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Additionally, there\u2019s been recent speculation that WWE approached Colorado, Indiana, and Michigan<\/a> about allowing wagering on its scripted matches. Gaming regulators in those states later said they either hadn\u2019t been in contact with WWE or that they have no interest in approving betting on events in which the outcome is predetermined.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transaction represents a contribution price of WWE of approximately $106 per share (before any post-closing dividend). Additionally, UFC and WWE will each contribute cash to the new company so that it holds approximately $150 million. At closing, Endeavor intends to sweep all excess cash at UFC, and shareholders of the new company (other than Endeavor) are expected to receive a post-closing dividend,\u201d according to the statement.<\/p>\n

Other Endeavor, WWE Rumors<\/h2>\n

Among industry observers, there\u2019s some speculation that Endeavor\u2019s WWE acquisition is modeled after the buyer\u2019s acquisition of UFC, which was completed in 2021. That transaction allowed Dana White to cash out while still maintaining day-to-day operational control. It appears the same will be true of Vince McMahon as he will have a leadership role at the new company.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also chatter that Endeavor could eventually move to spin off UFC and WWE into a separate publicly traded entity to unlock value for shareholders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Plausible as such a transaction might be, there\u2019s no mention of it in the statement revealing Endeavor\u2019s takeover of WWE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EDR), the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), announced Monday it offered $9.3 billion for World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) in a transaction that would create a combat sports and sports entertainment Goliath. The suitor, which also owns IMG Arena and operates the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":267276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,32093,82964,85292],"tags":[81903,81966,81987,85293],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEndeavor Group Paying $9.3 Billion To Acquire WWE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Endeavor Group paying $9.3 billion to acquire World Wrestling Entertainment.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Endeavor Group Paying $9.3 Billion To Acquire WWE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Endeavor Group paying $9.3 billion to acquire World Wrestling Entertainment.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-03T19:25:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-07T21:59:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wm4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/\",\"name\":\"Endeavor Group Paying $9.3 Billion To Acquire WWE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wm4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-03T19:25:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-07T21:59:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Endeavor Group paying $9.3 billion to acquire World Wrestling Entertainment.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wm4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wm4.jpg\",\"width\":780,\"height\":427,\"caption\":\"WWE boss Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania 38. Endeavor is buying WWE for $9.3 billion. (Image: Wrestling Inc.)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Endeavor Combining UFC, Wrestling in $9.3 Billion Bid for WWE\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Endeavor Group Paying $9.3 Billion To Acquire WWE","description":"Endeavor Group paying $9.3 billion to acquire World Wrestling Entertainment.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Endeavor Group Paying $9.3 Billion To Acquire WWE","og_description":"Endeavor Group paying $9.3 billion to acquire World Wrestling Entertainment.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2023-04-03T19:25:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-07T21:59:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":780,"height":427,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wm4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/","name":"Endeavor Group Paying $9.3 Billion To Acquire WWE","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wm4.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-03T19:25:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-07T21:59:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Endeavor Group paying $9.3 billion to acquire World Wrestling Entertainment.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wm4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wm4.jpg","width":780,"height":427,"caption":"WWE boss Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania 38. Endeavor is buying WWE for $9.3 billion. (Image: Wrestling Inc.)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/endeavor-group-paying-9-3-billion-to-acquire-wwe\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Endeavor Combining UFC, Wrestling in $9.3 Billion Bid for WWE"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}