Daily Mail: Endeavor's acquisition of the WWE is huge for the live sports industry

Story from Daily Mail:

Just as the dust was settling on a record-breaking WrestleMania, World Wrestling Entertainment merged with Endeavor Group, the parent company of MMA powerhouse Ultimate Fighting Championship, to form a new publicly traded company.

The deal values the newly combined company at over $21 billion, amalgamating UFC's $12.1 billion worth and WWE's at $9.3 billion. Endeavor shareholders will own 51% of the newly combined company, while WWE shareholders are getting 49%.

Endeavor is led by legendary Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel. If you've seen the popular show 'Entourage', the brash character Ari Gold is based on Emanuel.

“This is a rare opportunity to create a global live sports and entertainment pureplay built for where the industry is headed,” said Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, in a statement. Emanuel, a Hollywood powerhouse agent, will be the CEO of the new company and retain his chief executive title at the agency.

Endeavor was founded in 1995 and became the Endeavor group in 2005 thanks to a merger with the William Morris Agency. Emanuel's clients have include Oprah Winfrey, Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Mark Wahlberg, and even WWE icon, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

The company's sensational success in Hollywood meant they could purchase rivals IMG for £1.9billion in 2013. Two years later they'd purchase the Miss Universe organisation from Donald Trump.

Crucially, in 2016, Endeavor purchased Zuffa, the parent company for the UFC, for £3.2 billion. Seven years later, they have purchased the WWE and decided to merge the two live entertainment properties together under one umbrella.

Vince McMahon, who has been previously forced to retire amid sexual misconduct and hush money allegations, will be installed as the executive chairman as a part of this deal.

UFC earnings have nearly doubled in the past seven years since Endeavor took over, but they didn't change much of the infrastructure. Dana White has remained the president of the UFC throughout, even when he was caught slapping his wife in public and there were calls from fans for the boss to resign.

McMahon appears similarly bulletproof in this expansion and Endeavor's philosophy is, if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

SportsMail understands Triple H will retain his role as head of creative despite the sale and with McMahon as chairman, it will be business as usual for the company from an infrastructure standpoint.

WWE and UFC have very strong TV deals that Endeavor want to benefit from. WWE are entering the final year of a five-year $1 billion deal, they also make $265million a year from the USA Network on top of a 10-year deal for events in Saudi Arabia that will yield a further $1billion.

UFC makes $150million a year from ESPN, but they also have the chance to renew in 2024, like WWE. The UFC's pay-per-view model is also still going strong where they can rake in anywhere between one million buys for a big fight to two million for a Conor McGregor fight.

WWE, on the other hand, have their streaming platform in addition to pay-per-views, the WWE Network. That service was purchased by NBC's Peacock for $1 billion, but WWE can still sell the rights to the service in other territories outside of America.

The timing of this deal is fantastic for Endeavor. With both live action properties set for major TV renewals next year - and both are still performing at the top of cable on their respective nights every single week - the new combined company is in a dominant position to rake in historic deals.

The new company’s board of directors will have 11 members named at a later date. Six of them appointed by Endeavor and the remaining will be picked by the WWE.

Endeavor became the outright owner of the UFC in 2021. Shares rose 10% for the company that year. Overall for Endeavor when it comes to sport, revenue grew 20% last year to $1.3 billion thanks and a large part of that rise came from increased media rights fees, something the company will really enjoy in 2024.

Fans will be concerned at what WWE will look like without the company being controlled by the McMahon family, as it has been for over 50 years from Vince McMahon's father first.

However, much like the UFC, Endeavor will let the experts run the company while they maximise the commercial revenues in play. If the UFC is the blueprint they are abiding by - and by all means it is as they put the two powerhouses under one roof - then WWE remains the same, but with arguably the most powerful ally it could have gained.

WWE as a family business is dead, but the juggernaut itself has only gotten bigger.