Vince McMahon wants up to $9 billion for World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., the media company he ran for decades and returned to this year in order to sell it, according to a Bloomberg report citing people close to the file.
The company
WWE,
received offers, the report saidwith Endeavor Group Holdings Inc.
EDR,
owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, among potential buyers.
WWE declined to comment.
Mercurial McMahon, WWE’s majority shareholder, reinstated himself as executive chairman in January to oversee a strategic review and sale of the company. Last year, McMahon stepped down after reports in the Wall Street Journal that he had paid millions of dollars to settle sexual misconduct complaints.
WWE shares closed down around 1% in trading on Friday.
When the stock closed, the asking price was nearly 40% above the company’s $6.5 billion market value. WWE shares have soared 28% this year, largely due to speculation about the potential sale.
The high asking price had wrestling watchers wondering how much WWE could actually fetch from a sale.
“WWE can be worth $7 billion if you can get affordable funding. But WWE is not a growth company,” Brandon Thurston, editor-in-chief of Wrestlenomics, told MarketWatch. “The market for live sports rights is strong for the foreseeable future but uncertain beyond the horizon of a few years, given the question of whether streaming can truly replace cable profits.”
Read also : Stephanie McMahon resigns from WWE after Vince McMahon returns to board
Related: WWE’s Vince McMahon agrees to multi-million dollar legal settlement with accuser: report