WWE was merged with UFC in 2023 in a deal that valued the wrestling company at $9.3 billion on an enterprise basis, or $9.0 billion in equity value, according to the transaction valuation summary in the companies’ joint investor presentation. The deal created TKO Group Holdings, Inc.
Endeavor’s UFC was valued at $12.1 billion in enterprise value, or $9.4 billion in equity value — the difference due to UFC’s considerable debt related to Endeavor’s 2016 purchase of the MMA company.
The combined enterprise value of WWE and UFC was $21.4 billion at the time of the announcement of the deal in April 2023.
The deal converted all WWE shares to TKO shares. Endeavor got 51% of the new merged company. WWE shareholders got 49%. Unlike many mergers and acquisitions, cash was not part of the company transaction.
The sale process
On January 6, 2023, WWE publicly announced a review of its strategic alternatives, a process triggered by Vince McMahon’s unilateral return as Executive Chairman. McMahon, who had stepped down in mid-2022 amid a board investigation into sexual misconduct allegations, argued in letters to the WWE Board in late December 2022 that WWE had a narrow window to maximize shareholder value and that his return was necessary to guide the company through both an M&A process and an upcoming domestic media rights negotiation cycle.
WWE reported in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that they contacted or were contacted by over 60 potential counterparties: strategic companies, financial sponsors, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds. WWE ultimately entered into confidentiality agreements with 20 of them.
From that pool, four submitted actual bids.
The four bidders
Court filings that were originally sealed and later made public confirm that the four bidders were Endeavor, Formula One parent Liberty Media, private equity firm KKR, and Base 10 — the latter, a company connected to AEW owner Tony Khan.
By a considerable margin, Base 10 submitted the lowest bid, at $76.83 per share. KKR offered a range of $90 to $97.50. Liberty bid $95 to $100. Those three bids were all-cash offers. Endeavor’s winning bid was an all-stock deal valued at $95.66 per share “before synergies” and $105.04 with synergies (lay-offs and various other kinds of cost savings).
Translating those per-share figures to full company valuations, based on WWE’s 85.1 million diluted shares (as sourced from the Endeavor slide above), we get the following:
- Base 10: $6.5 billion
- KKR: $7.7 billion to $8.3 billion
- Liberty Media: $8.1 billion to $8.5 billion
- Endeavor: $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion
Endeavor published the presentation slide at the top of this article at the time of the announcement of the deal, putting WWE’s contribution price at $105.98 per share. On that basis, WWE’s enterprise value in the deal was $9.3 billion.
What Endeavor actually paid
The Endeavor deal was structured not as a conventional acquisition but as a merger of equals of sorts, combining WWE with Endeavor’s UFC under a new public entity. WWE stockholders received one TKO share for each share of WWE common stock they held. At closing, ultimately in September 2023, Endeavor subsidiaries were expected to own 51% of the voting power and economic interests in the combined company, with former WWE shareholders owning the remaining 49%.
WWE investors, if they held onto their shares, simple became TKO shareholders on September 12, 2023.
Endeavor was also a publicly-traded company at the time. Those shareholders essentially gained secondary exposure to TKO through Endeavor’s majority ownership of the merged company.
Endeavor slide deck filed upon the announcement of the deal in April 2023
“The Endeavor Flywheel“
Endeavor framed the deal as a story of dramatic growth in value for UFC. When it acquired UFC in 2016, the MMA promotion’s enterprise value was $4.1 billion. By the time the WWE deal was announced, that figure had grown to $12.1 billion. The investor presentation pitched the WWE transaction another iteration in which Endeavor would unlock value for WWE, as it did for UFC. Endeavor would apply its expertise in media rights, sponsorship, live events, and talent management to grow WWE.
How the Endeavor negotiations progressed
According to WWE’s narrative, Endeavor made its first written indication of interest on February 7, 2023, proposing a deal it valued at $88.43 per share, which was at the time 23% better than WWE’s share price of $72.04 on January 5 (the day before the M&A process was announced). Under that initial offer, Endeavor would have owned 57% of the combined company and WWE’s securityholders would have owned 43%.
After further negotiation, the parties agreed to a 51/49 split — six percentage points more for WWE shareholders.
That improved split came with a condition purportedly from Endeavor. McMahon would serve as Executive Chairman of the combined company until his death, resignation, or incapacity, and would have the right to select five of the 11 directors on the new company’s board. According to WWE’s filings, Endeavor stated that McMahon’s continued involvement was fundamental to its thesis for the transaction. However, testimony from Endeavor and later TKO executive Mark Shapiro contradicts that.
The joint investor presentation, published when the deal was announced, featured McMahon prominently alongside Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro in the leadership slide, listed under the title “NewCo, Executive Chairman.” (The TKO name came later.)
McMahon ultimately served in that role for just a few months. He resigned from all positions at WWE and TKO in January 2024 after former employee Janel Grant filed a sex trafficking lawsuit against him and WWE, a case in which he denies the allegations and which remains ongoing in Connecticut federal court.
Slide deck filed by WWE upon the announcement of the deal in April 2023
What the deal looks like in hindsight
At announcement, the combined entity was described as a $21 billion “global sports and entertainment company.” WWE’s share of that was $9.3 billion in enterprise value. By early 2026, TKO traded at approximately $200 per share, roughly double the share value implied by the 2023 bid prices.
Valuing a theoretical stand-alone WWE is more difficult today because it’s now not only combined with UFC. In February 2025, TKO acquired other Endeavor properties: sports marketing agency IMG, travel package live event business On Location, and Professional Bull Riders. Endeavor wanted those companies to be part of the original TKO deal, but McMahon was less interested.
The ongoing lawsuit
A shareholder class action lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court in November 2023 alleges that the sale process was unfair. The plaintiffs say Endeavor was effectively preselected by McMahon because Ari Emanuel had assured McMahon’s continued role in the combined company. The defendants deny the central allegations. Communications records show McMahon and Emanuel were communicating about a possible deal months before the sale process was formally announced.