Former WWE CEO Vince McMahon Nets $100 Million Through Another Stock Sale

Todd Spangler
·2 min read
2
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Vince McMahon, the founder and former CEO of wrestling entertainment company WWE, received about $100 million through a sale of about 3.5 million shares of TKO Group.

TKO Group was formed last year through the Endeavor-led merger of UFC and WWE. Endeavor maintains a majority interest in TKO.

More from Variety

McMahon’s latest sale of TKO stock comes after he netted $408 million through a separate sale of shares earlier this month, and after he sold 8.4 million shares of Class A common stock in TKO — worth $670 million — last November. All told, to date he has earned almost $1.2 billion through TKO stock sales.

According to an SEC filing Thursday by TKO Group, McMahon’s latest stock sale was to an unidentified bank, with the 3.484 million shares transferred over the course of 15 business days (March 5-25). “Upon such physical settlement, [McMahon] received, in the aggregate, approximately $100 million from the Bank,” per the filing.

McMahon now owns 11.5 million shares of TKO Group, according to the March 28 filing.

TKO disclosed in its most recent 10-Q that McMahon had pledged 3.484 million of his Class A shares as “collateral to secure his obligations under a prepaid forward contract with Morgan Stanley Bank.” In addition, McMahon has pledged 7.17 million of his shares as “collateral to secure his obligations under loans” from Morgan Stanley Private Bank, National Association.” TKO noted that “some or all” of those shares may be sold by the banks “upon the occurrence of events set forth in the applicable documents governing such obligations.”

McMahon, the founder of WWE, resigned from the board of TKO Group in January in the wake of sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations against him by a former employee as detailed in a lawsuit. McMahon has strongly denied the allegations.

In an SEC filing last month, TKO disclosed that McMahon forfeited 86,918 shares of unvested stock units, valued at $7.5 million, after he resigned under pressure from the TKO board. In 2023, UFC and WWE both logged record revenue and sponsorship deals. On a pro-forma basis for full-year 2023, the combined operations of UFC and WWE generated revenue of $2.62 billion (up 8%) and net income of $241.5 million (compared with $60.1 million the prior year).

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.