Vince McMahon’s WWE (NYSE:WWE) has confirmed its sale to Endeavour Group (NYSE:EDR) after advanced talks between the two were reported by several media outlets. The deal involves a merger with EDR’s UFC, resulting in the formation of a new publicly-traded company, with EDR holding a controlling 51% stake and WWE owning 49%.
Endeavor CEO, Ariel Emanuel, will lead the new company as CEO, while McMahon will serve as executive chairman.
The deal values WWE at an enterprise value of $9.3 billion and a market value of $6.79 billion. The new company is expected to generate annualized run-rate cost synergies of $50-100 million.