WWE founder Vince McMahon is selling a large portion of his shares in the TKO Group, the Endeavor-controlled owner of the wrestling giant.
According to a securities filing Thursday, McMahon plans to sell 8.4 million shares of TKO stock with a street value of just over $700 million at the market close. That’s almost 25 percent of his current shares in the company.
McMahon is currently CEO of TKO Group.
Specifically, the filing states that TKO intends to repurchase $100 million worth of shares as part of the sale, with Endeavor and TKO CEO Ari Emanuel and President and COO Mark Shapiro expected to receive $1 million each. dollars will be acquired. Other directors have committed to purchasing an additional $850,000 worth of shares.
TKO Group was formed in September when Endeavor spun off its UFC division and merged with McMahon’s WWE, creating a sports media powerhouse.
The company released its first quarterly earnings report earlier this week and announced new WWE media rights deals with NBCUniversal and The CW, as well as new international events in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
McMahon retired from WWE last year but returned in January, using his controlling interest to appoint himself and two others to the company’s board of directors. He then put the company up for sale and eventually agreed to form TKO.
McMahon’s first exit from the company was tied to a misconduct investigation, and the company announced earlier this year that McMahon had paid him more than $17 million to reimburse him for the costs of that investigation.
The FBI served a search warrant and grand jury subpoena at McMahon’s home in July, although no charges have been filed yet.
By offering to buy more than $100 million worth of McMahon stock, the company is likely trying to signal to Wall Street that it – and Emanuel and Shapiro – still firmly believe in the business, which is quite profitable is. Executives told analysts this week that they expect to distribute profits to shareholders, particularly if new rights deals are signed.
This story has been updated to clarify that TKO is buying back $100 million in stock.