In the newest twist to the Vince McMahon story, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that McMahon wants to return to WWE in order to sell it.
That comes from a January 5 WSJ article from Lauren Thomas, who wrote that McMahon, the majority owner of WWE wants to return to the company after his retirement last year amid multiple sexual harassment claims. That’s according to “people familiar with the situation,” Thomas stated.
“Mr. McMahon, who has majority voting power through his ownership of WWE’s Class-B stock, has told the company that he is electing himself and two former co-presidents and directors, Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, to the board, the people said,” wrote Thomas. “The move to reinstate Mr. McMahon, which the board previously rebuffed, and the others will require three current directors to vacate their positions.”
According to the article, McMahon penned a letter to the WWE’s Board of Directors in late December, stating that he wanted to return to the company to “spearhead a strategic-review process,” which would result in the sale of the company.
“Mr. McMahon believes the media landscape is evolving quickly and more companies are looking to own the intellectual property they use on their streaming platforms, making WWE an attractive takeover target, the people said,” Thomas wrote. “WWE, which generates most of its revenue from selling content rights, posted its first year of over $1 billion in revenue in 2021. The company currently has a market value of just over $5 billion.”
McMahon believes that many companies, such as NBC Universal, Warner Brothers Discovery, and more are wanting to own their own intellectual property to use on their streaming services. This makes WWE a prized pig.
“The board responded last month in a letter to Mr. McMahon that it was prepared to initiate a review process and would welcome working with him on it,” the article stated. “However, it said it unanimously agreed that Mr. McMahon’s return to the business wouldn’t be in shareholders’ best interest, according to people familiar with the letters.”
The board also asked that McMahon confirm his commitment to repay the expenses that were incurred as a result of the investigation into his sexual misconduct allegations. They also asked that McMahon not return to the company while the federal government is still investigating the allegations.
Vince McMahon Wants to Return to WWE or He Won’t Approve of a Sale
“Mr. McMahon said in response that he remains willing to continue working to complete any reimbursement for reasonable expenses related to the investigation, to the extent they aren’t covered by insurance, but he declined to agree to not return to the company,” the WSJ article wrote.
The article noted that McMahon said that unless he is directly involved as the executive chairman from the outset of the strategic review, he wouldn’t support or approve any media-rights sale.
Recently, reports came out that McMahon was planning a comeback to the company. He stated that he was given bad advice from people close to him, who told him to step down.
It was reported that many people in WWE were against McMahon returning to the company.
Currently, Vince’s daughter Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan are serving as Co-CEO’s of WWE, while Triple H (Paul Levesque) is serving as the head of creative.