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Endeavor, the Hollywood expertise big that owns the artwork truthful and media firm Frieze, has acquired World Wrestling Leisure (WWE) in a $9.3bn deal that can see the wrestling promotion agency be a part of forces with one other Endeavor-owned fight sports activities firm in a merger value greater than $21bn.
Endeavor introduced this week it has signed a deal to kind a brand new sports activities and leisure firm by buying WWE and merging it with the Final Preventing Championship (UFC), a combined martial arts firm Endeavor acquired in 2016. Final yr, the 2 corporations collectively made $2.4b in income and have loved a ten% annual income progress charge since 2019, in response to Endeavor.
After the deal closes, Endeavor will maintain a 51% controlling stake within the new firm, whereas WWE’s shareholders will maintain 49%. The deal is anticipated to shut within the second half of the yr, in response to Endeavor.
The brand new firm—which has not been named however intends to commerce on the New York Inventory Trade (NYSE) beneath the ticker image “TKO”, which can be an abbreviation for the battle time period “technical knockout”—shall be led by Endeavor boss and artwork collector Ari Emanuel as chief government, whereas WWE’s Vince McMahon will function the board’s government chairman.
It’s the most recent high-profile acquisition by Endeavor, which first bought a 70% stake in Frieze in 2016, the identical yr the corporate bought shares in UFC (final yr, Endeavor purchased out UFC). Since Endeavor acquired Frieze, the artwork media firm has expanded with new gala’s in Los Angeles (the place Endeavor relies) and Seoul.
“I wished the corporate Endeavor to be a cultural ambassador—should you’re going to be an envoy for tradition, the centre of that’s artwork,” Emanuel informed Self-importance Truthful final yr, including that the significance of artwork in his trade is one thing that may’t be measured by financial earnings and losses alone.
Frieze introduced in 2020 that Simon Fox, a former British media government, would take over because the agency’s first chief government officer. Together with its 4 worldwide artwork gala’s, Frieze’s enterprise consists of media manufacturing, music performances and an artwork publication.
In 2021, Endeavor went public with an preliminary public providing on the NYSE. Endeavor made headlines in 2019 after the corporate returned a $400m funding from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund over the killing of The Washington Put up journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
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