Tony Khan has publicly confirmed for the first time that he submitted a bid to purchase WWE during the 2023 sale process, and has strongly implied that the competition was not conducted on a level playing field. Khan addressed the topic during an interview on The Coach and Bro Show with Jonathan Coachman and Vince Russo.
"I was very interested in the process, and I think that if there was going to be a sale, I would at least want to have a chance to be involved," Khan said. "If it had gone for any less than that, I would have really kicked myself."
When pressed on whether the bidding represented a legitimate open competition, Khan stopped short of a direct accusation.
"While respecting the confidentiality of that, I would say I don't have any complaints about that process from my side right now that I'd want to talk about," he said. "I do think there was some stuff to that... at the time that seemed like to me — just reiterating — if it had gone for any less I would have really beat myself up. Like, why wouldn't you put in a bid? I thought that was a very reasonable number that I put in."
Court documents previously revealed that Khan's bid through his company Base 10 came in at approximately $6.9 billion, the lowest of four formal offers submitted during the process. KKR and Liberty Media both submitted higher all-cash bids.
Endeavor ultimately won through an all-stock deal that created TKO Group Holdings and preserved Vince McMahon's position as executive chairman.
An ongoing WWE shareholder lawsuit alleges the sale was engineered to ensure that outcome, with plaintiffs arguing that competing bids were not allowed to fully develop into a genuine competition. Khan framed the years since the bid as a deliberate decision to focus inward on the wrestling product rather than engage publicly in any broader conflict with WWE.
"I've tried to focus on the wrestling show," he said. "And those have been really good years for AEW."
