WWE and UFC are merging into a sports entertainment behemoth

Just as CNBC scooped yesterday, Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group is acquiring World Wrestling Entertainment and will spin out a new publicly traded company that combines it with Ultimate Fighting Championship. The deal values WWE, which for decades has been owned and run by the McMahon family, at $9.3 billion and the Endeavor-owned UFC at $12.1 billion.

Both companies expect the agreement to close in late 2023. When it does, the result will be a combined sports entertainment powerhouse with fervent, loyal audiences for each brand. WWE just wrapped up WrestleMania, its biggest live event spectacle of the year, over two nights at SoFi Stadium. The company claims it reached a combined attendance of 161,892 people in the stadium. The event featured WWE’s top superstars and celebrities like Logan Paul — who is somehow batting a thousand at putting on impressive pro wrestling matches — and Snoop Dogg.

The non-scripted UFC, which Endeavor took full control of in 2021 after purchasing a majority stake years earlier, has also proven to be a wise investment with hugely successful pay-per-view events. Following CNBC’s report of the imminent deal, MMA star Conor McGregor celebrated the news on Sunday night.

Endeavor will own 51 percent of the new company, with WWE shareholders getting the remaining 49 percent. Emanuel will serve as the CEO of the new company while also retaining his chief executive role at Endeavor. Vince McMahon will become executive chair. Dana White will remain president of UFC, while current WWE CEO Nick Khan will be president of the wrestling business.

McMahon returned to WWE in January after retiring months earlier in July. His abrupt departure from the company that he turned into a global cultural phenomenon followed numerous reports from The Wall Street Journal about payments tied to affairs and claims of sexual misconduct. WWE carried out an investigation, but McMahon — far and away the company’s largest shareholder — returned with a mission to sell the business that he bought from his father in 1982. In the decades since he took over, WWE has produced megastars like Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena, and Roman Reigns.

WWE has openly pursued a sale in recent months because the company’s lucrative TV deals with Fox and Comcast are coming up for renewal in the not-too-distant future. Monday Night Raw and Smackdown continue to rank among the highest-rated programs on TV, and the company signed a multiyear deal with Peacock in 2021 — reportedly for $1 billion — that brought WWE’s extensive vault and monthly premium live events to the streaming service.

“This is a rare opportunity to create a global live sports and entertainment pureplay built for where the industry is headed,” Emanuel said in a press release. “Given the incredible work that Ari and Endeavor have done to grow the UFC brand — nearly doubling its revenue over the past seven years — and the immense success we’ve already had in partnering with their team on a number of ventures, I believe that this is without a doubt the best outcome for our shareholders and other stakeholders,” said McMahon.