Vince McMahon to sell 30% of his shares in TKO

Vince McMahon is preparing to sell nearly one-third of his shares in TKO Group Holdings (NYSE:TKO), the company created earlier this year in the merger of Stamford-based WWE and Endeavor Group.

According to a statement from the company, McMahon is selling 8.4 million shares of his Class A stock in the company, approximately 30% of his stake in TKO, where he serves as executive chairman. While TKO did not put a price on this share, Wrestlenomics editor and publisher Brandon Thurston put the sum at $700 million.

TKO stated it would buy $100 million worth of the stock, while Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will acquire $1 million worth of the stock, and Endeavor president Mark Shapiro will buy $850,000 worth. The remaining stock will be sold to the public.

McMahon’s actions follows a TKO filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission that listed him as a potential liability risk. While an internal WWE investigation into charges of sexual harassment by McMahon against former female employees was completed, TKO noted in its filing that “WWE has received, and may receive in the future, regulatory, investigative and enforcement inquiries, subpoenas, demands and/or other claims and complaints arising
from, related to, or in connection with these matters.”

Last July, TKO noted that “federal law enforcement agents executed a search warrant and served a federal grand jury subpoena” on McMahon, although the company did not say what the investigators were probing. McMahon did not face any charges based on that action.

Photo courtesy WWE