PHOTO: Sports Business Journal
This article has been updated in the second paragraph to include a note that appears on the filing, replacing attribution to a source familiar with the filing.
A new filing shows WWE President and TKO board member Nick Khan has sold 22,693 TKO shares, which have a market value of $2,394,846.54. But the transaction is probably less intriguing than it seems.
The filing states that the “[s]ale includes an amount necessary to cover a tax obligation resulting from the settlement of a vested equity award distribution”.
“In-kind” transactions that cover tax payments have been filed for WWE executives in July in previous years, including for Khan last year, when he disposed of 25,231 shares on July 21, 2023.
I believe this is part of an arrangement specific to WWE executives before the company’s September 2023 merger into TKO. Following the merger, because WWE is now part of a larger company in TKO, Khan may be the only WWE executive who is required to make this type of disclosure this year. Therefore, I don’t expect more filings to be published soon for other WWE executives who may be making similar transactions.
After the sale recorded today, Khan has 211,731 TKO shares remaining, a market value of about $22.4 million.
Khan registered all of his TKO shares for sale as part of an offering filed in April. Former CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon and current TKO board member Steve Koonin also registered shares for sale as part of that offering. So it wouldn’t be surprising to see Khan make more stock transactions sometime in the future.
The filing from April stated: “Nick Khan and Steven R. Koonin, who are directors of TKO, and Vincent K. McMahon will be selling stockholders and may from time to time offer and sell any or all of their respective shares of Class A common stock set forth below pursuant to this prospectus.”
Outside of sales to cover taxes like the transaction recorded today, Khan has yet to sell WWE or TKO shares.
Last year, in addition to tax-related filings being published for Khan, there were also in-kind stock transactions filed for Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, as well as executives who have since left the company: Kevin Dunn, Frank Riddick, and Karen Mullane. Checking WWE’s archive of SEC filings, similar ownership transactions were disclosed for WWE executives each year in July going back to 2003.
Brandon Thurston has written about wrestling business since 2015. He operates and owns Wrestlenomics.