WWE for sale - Who Will Buy It? Megathread

Lord TSC

This seems like it will probably be the biggest piece of wrestling news in history. Still not 100% confirmed, but seems to be strong rumours.

• Cassidy Haynes: For what it's worth, I'm told the Saudi deal is done and they're taking the company private.
• SRS: More on the HOT SAUDI RUMOR: that the WWE sale is done they’ll go private. I haven’t confirmed any of this. At all. But hey, you guys wanna know what all of the dark twitter tweets are about.
• Steven Muelhausen: Sources: #WWE has been sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The company will go back to being private. Unknown if Vince McMahon will return to head of creative but it is expected by some people.
• Garrett Kidney: Honestly one of the worst things might be them owning the video library. Saudi Arabia being effectively the holders of a large amount of the history of professional wrestling would suck so bad.
• /r/SC Insider Kermit: WWE has been sold
• SRS: Bovada, which sent Fightful betting odds just hours ago on who would buy WWE, is no longer taking bets on it
• Jimmy Van, Owner of Fightful: "I will say this which contradicts the Saudi rumors - WWE had just announced that JPMorgan was repping them. Usually a sales process takes months before shareholder approval. It seems too fast for a deal to have happened already."
• Alba: I want to make it extremely clear when I say this, doesn't mean it's not going to happen, as it very well may. But everyone I've spoken to who I trust as sources and have trusted for years do not believe at this moment a deal between WWE and the Saudis is done.
• Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net: The deal isn’t completely finalized because WWE must provide notice to shareholders & other parties. There are legalities to go through, as the company is publicly traded. But, again, I’m told a deal has been agreed to in principle.

hynesie08

It's been a long time since I studied Business, and we only covered publicly traded companies for a short period. But I'm fairly confident that even with Vince holding the majority of voting shares, there is no way a billion dollar company would be sold that quick.

You've got consultation periods, notice periods, shareholder consultations, votes and a whole lotta red tape.

Does Vince want to sell to the Saudis? Probably

Will they inevitably end up owning WWE? Probably.

Is there more twists and turns to come? Definitely.

B.A._Baracus

Mental alright.

I remember I said about a year or two ago on here that wwe would be sold to either Disney or the Saudis. Me and my friend just felt it was gonna get sold. Here we are but it's still shocking.

Expect the next biggest stars of the next ten years to be Saudi I guess. Don't know what it means for women's wrestling too. Let's be honest...

riffmongous

Can anyone give a brief explanation of what difference it being a public or private company will mean for the on-screen product?

titan18

This could very much fcuk Sami and the Bloodline story. Not sure he can stay working for them

Lord TSC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120092914#Comment_120092914

We won’t know until we see it in action, but the Saudis will likely pump a tonne of money into production value and contracts, and encourage shows to take place over there more often. Possibly Vince back in charge of creative as a term of the sale.

briany

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120092872#Comment_120092872

Saudi's are no different to any other investor - money is king. If women's wrestling makes them money, they will continue with it. In the parts of the world which are not SA, at least.

Lord TSC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093032#Comment_120093032

Yeap.

Listen, this is what Sportswashing is all about. They won't be buying WWE to amuse themselves. They'll be doing it to entertain Western audiences. They'll maintain the values, by and large, of the Western audience, so that said audience can then think "Oh, maybe they aren't that bad? Maybe the Saudis are actually pretty chill? They let women wrestle, and look at how cool Roman's new 1bn dollar entrance is!"

They won't sweep in and start insisting women cover themselves head to toe in front of American audiences. And WWE's LGBT record is already **** anyway, so not much going to change there. But the primary aim of this will be for people to think well of the Saudi regime. That won't happen if they instil their values harshly on the product.

B.A._Baracus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093032#Comment_120093032

You'd think that... but let's look at how wwe have been booking women's wresting for the last few years. Just as good as the men. Even main eventing wrestlemania 35.

Can you honestly see that same level of push and prominence? I can't.

Besides if this deal is to pass give it a while and we'll have our first Saudi wwe champion. He'll be the one main eventing wrestlemanias ;)

The White Wolf

Fair play to him; he might have visibly aged big time in the last few years, but inside he remains that horrible rotten piece of **** he always was.

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093251#Comment_120093251

Once a carny always a carny....

I don't think a publicly listed company can sell that quickly. I'm sure there's an agreement with an intent to sell but the due diligence process could take years to complete. Not much will change in the interim, well other than Vince becoming head of creative again, that seems to be only a matter of time.

briany

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093145#Comment_120093145

I don't see why they would shoot themselves in the foot like that, unless they believed that a stronger emphasis on men's wrestling would make more money. However, if this Saudi crowd really have bought WWE, it would remain to be seen exactly how much creative control they could have and what's been written into the deal regarding creative autonomy for WWE itself.

LineOfBeauty

If you remained a fan of WWE after Vince McMahon was revealed to the world as a monster, I'm sure you won't have too many moral conundrums in supporting WWE backed by the Saudi regime.

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093461#Comment_120093461

Newcastle fans seem happy enough.

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093461#Comment_120093461

No way am i supporting a regime that thinks so little of women. I'll stick to a more innocent time and watch Benoit and Jimmy Snuka matches.

Angron

Be fairly grim if that ends up happening.

Loughc

Duplicate post

LineOfBeauty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093611#Comment_120093611

There's a case of reasonable deniability for the average WWE fan in regards the Snuka stuff. And there's a huge difference between watching WWE post Benoit, than there would be in financial contributing to a company owned by the Saudi regime.

Xterminator

does anyone think there is a difference between a company that is controlled by Saudi backers and a company controller by republican & trump supporting Christian ?

id be interested to hear why? both seem to have a very similar ideology on women, lgbt rights etc?

J. Marston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093966#Comment_120093966

One kills and controls them. The other is only allowed to fantasise about doing it.

farmingquestion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093032#Comment_120093032

It's a sportwashing project.

It'll be the same as the investments in Newcastle United, who set up a womens team for the first time at Newcastle.

They'll follow the norms outside of Saudi but in Saudi they'll continue their regime.

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093303#Comment_120093303

Pretty much this exactly. If the sale had gone through it would have to be announced as WWE is publicly listed on the stock exchange. As far as I'm aware that hasn't changed. As usual the dirtsheets are jumping up and down and foaming at the mouth without much basis.

It might happen, sure. Vince being back involved is bad news enough anyways, we know what inevitably comes next in any case with Triple H's likely removal as Chief Content Officer and the systematic dismantling/firing of anyone close to him in the coming months.

cena

Could the company be heading to Saudi

PTH2009

Is what it is I suppose and only a few hours of entertainment. Only effect it would have on fans is if Vince takes back creative and the product goes down the dumps again

Many things we all enjoy are owned by the same individuals

Cherry_Cola

Fulham vs Newcastle this weekend, an AEW/WWE clash at last! 😅

Talk now is there is no done deal with the Saudis and all options are being explored.

Lord TSC

[Sean Ross Sapp] There have been multiple wrestlers who have told me they'd leave WWE if the company ends up being Saudi Arabia-led. I'll have more on FightfulSelect.com today, as well as List & Ya Boy at 3 PM EST.

[Helwani] Contrary to reports stating otherwise last night, there is no deal in place at this precise moment for WWE to be sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund or any entity, sources say. The organization is still exploring all options, I’m told. Developing.

[Brandon Thurston] "I asked someone at WWE, who would know, who said the story that took hold of Twitter last night, about WWE and Saudi Arabia being near a deal to take the company private, is untrue".

[Jon Alba] confirms Ariel Helwani's news: "Exactly the same as what I’ve been told".

So, it appears someone jumped the gun. But I'm going to wager this is a case of "the initial agreements have been made" rather than "it's 100% done"; that, for example, Vince has said he's going to sell to the Saudis, but it's not actually finalized yet.

I wonder if the "leaks" were a testing of the waters, or even someone like Steph dropping the bomb as she walked out.

kippy

Hard to imagine a deal done that fast.

Will be interesting to see if there's as much hand wringing and pressure put on particpants as there was with LIV golf at the start.

One would really hope so although it's unlikely.

Sports/Entertainment washing works unfortunately.

Lord TSC

• Jon Alba- Well, finally got something much more firm. A high-ranking #WWE source with knowledge of the situation tells me reports of a sale or agreement to sell at this moment are “completely false." Still have not been able to get official comment from WWE on the record at this moment in time, but have inquired through multiple channels.”

JP Liz V1

Steph has stepped down as Co Ceo

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120095223#Comment_120095223

That was last night Liz, keep up😂

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120095591#Comment_120095591

Always late as usual

Petermc83

Can’t wait for the wrestlemania next year headlined by StoneCold Sheik Muhammad vs Hulk Hassan…

JP Liz V1

..

Lord TSC

Updated the thread title to be a bit mor general.

WON notes from today.

From this week's observer:

-Meltzer notes that both CNBC and Barron's reported on Shad Khan's possible interest in buying WWE. CNBC added its possible that he'd be one of the few ok with keeping Vince McMahon. A Khan purchase would require additional investors as part of a group.

-the Khan's and the Saudis are the only known parties who would take WWE private

-wall street analysts forecast a sale price of 7.4 to 8.2 billion, with WWE hoping for 8.5. Meltzer added that the acquisitions market has cooled off recently

-Nick Khan is quoted as saying it would be difficult to sell to one media company while having deals with another. for instance, they couldnt sell to netflix but still have deals with NBC/USA and Fox. based on this, a sale would need to be done before the next media rights deals.

-a Saudi purchase would bring a lot of PR heat, but Meltzer's points to the Saudis having bought Newcastle United and things being mostly business as usual since the purchase.

-Dave doesn't see antitrust issues stopping a purchase if the Khan's are involved based on lack of action at stopping WWE's purchase of WCW, UFC's buying up Strikeforce

-the lawsuit against WWE filed in Delaware claiming breach of fiduciary duty due to Vince coming back is unlikely to go anywhere unless the stock price tanks.

-apparently Stephanie and Vince don't work well together, Nick Khan has been acting as a go-between to keep things running smoothly between them. Khan also acts as go-between for Vince and Triple H.

Cherry_Cola

It's smart for the Khans to show interest in buying this even if there's no real intent. I've worked in some big mergers and acquisitions and basically it would allow Tony to view the WWE's books in detail, including contract details which could be very valuable knowledge.

PTH2009

Thought we'd have a collection around here and buy the company but price tag a bit off target

JP Liz V1

Could The Rock buy or is Disney an option?

Cherry_Cola

Too rich for the Rock, he'd need good partners. Disney, Apple, Amazon, Comcast, NBC, Saudis, Khans would also need partners, Netflix would be some of the main ones that could get involved. I work in one of these so half hoping we get it so I can swing a role over there for the laugh 😂

OneEightSeven

Meltzer's point about Newcastle is a false equivalence. Newcastle fans are delighted to get rid of Ashley - who was running the club into the ground - and become the richest club in the world. What can the rest of us football fans do about it? We can boycott the WWE but only Newcastle fans can boycott the club and as long as the Saudis buy success, then that's not going to happen.

B.A._Baracus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120104888#Comment_120104888

Apart from the Saudis, Disney is a potential buyer in my opinion. They already have a working relationship as wwe in the Philippines is on the Disney network.

While Disney do own alot of companies that produce content for non-children (eg, Fox etc) alot of their bigger brands are. Marvel, Lucas Film, Pixar etc. WWE would slot right in to the Disney brand. They can afford it too.

El Gato De Negocios

Disney, like Netflix or Prime, are constantly looking for new content to keep subscribers. Guaranteed weekly new product as well as the vast back catalogue make it an obvious choice imo. "Saudi" aren't a media group by any stretch so them buying makes little sense imo.

Musk, surely. Perfect fit for each other

Pinkman

On the latest 83 Weeks Eric Bischoff said he reckons Vince will only take the company private and not necessarily selling to Saudi or Endeavour but to keep his own share (around 38%) of the company and then he would need to raise around $4bn to buy out the outstanding shares based on it's current value. So could be a partnership with Saudi/Endeavour as oppose to him selling it to them.

At this rate I'd be very surprised if we don't see Vince at either Raw30 or the Rumble.