The American professional wrestling organization WWE was reportedly sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund on Wednesday morning, according to reports. After Stephanie McMahon announced her retirement from the company and her father Vince McMahon’s return to the position of chairman of the board, the reports started to circulate.
Vince, who is also the majority shareholder of WWE, reportedly made the decision to get the company off the public stock exchange and back to being a private company, according to DAZN pro wrestling reporter Steven Muehlhausen.
The largest professional wrestling organization, WWE, has global television agreements. The company went public on August 3, 1999, according to a CNN story. The McMahon family once held ownership of it.
As for the WWE being sold to Saudi Arabia, Vince had made it plain and clear that he intended to do so after his return, so the news shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Stephanie McMahon resigned from her role as co-CEO of the WWE
After news broke that WWE was looking into Vince for sexual misconduct, he resigned as the company’s chairman in July of last year. According to The Wall Street Journal, Vince covered up allegations of sexual misbehavior and infidelity for more than 16 years by paying over $12 million to four women connected to the company.
Stephanie McMahon resigned from her role as co-CEO of WWE earlier this morning. Prior to her father’s return last Friday, she served as the company’s chairperson. While Nick Khan is currently the sole CEO of WWE, Stephanie shared co-CEO responsibilities with him.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Stephanie’s husband and a former wrestler, will keep working for the organization. Since Vince departed as chairman of WWE last year, The Game has served as the company’s chief content officer.
“With Nick’s leadership and Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque as a chief content officer, I am confident WWE is in the perfect place to continue to provide unparalleled creative content and drive maximum value for shareholders,” Stephanie McMahon wrote in an official statement.
“WWE is in such a strong position that I have decided to return to my leave and take it one step further with my official resignation. I look forward to cheering on WWE from the other side of the business, where I started when I was a little kid, as a pure fan,” it added.