Vince McMahon”™s aggressive push to reinstate himself as the leader of Stamford-headquartered WWE (NYSE:WWE) has generated a lawsuit from an investor over claims that McMahon”™s machinations resulted in an illegal installation as executive chairman.
Bloomberg Law is reporting that an unnamed shareholder sued McMahon in Delaware”™s Chancery Court, alleging that McMahon misused his 81% voting control of the company to remove three independent directors, replace them with himself and two allies, and then force changes to the corporate bylaw so he could “impose his will on the board and WWE.”
According to the proposed class action, McMahon sought to seize control so he could engineer negotiations over the company”™s expiring media rights ”“ which the lawsuit referred to as the “lifeblood” of the business ”“ and threatened to block any deal that WWE would negotiate without his input. The lawsuit alleged McMahon”™s actions to “take complete personal control over any major corporate decision” by “adding his cronies to the board” ran afoul of Delaware law.
WWE did not publicly comment on the lawsuit.
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