According to a few business people on Twitter, Vince McMahon is planning to sell WWE to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. As of 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Ariel Helwani, who has a direct connection to WWE CEO Nick Khan, said “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.”
My Take
The key phrase to me from Ariel Helwani’s tweet is “precise moment.”
With all of the rumor and innuendo that we’ve come to find out since late Tuesday afternoon, I’ve become convinced that Vince McMahon took his “retirement time” to put together a plan to come back to take back control of the company that he built.
Let’s try and dig through the layers of this story and why Vince McMahon would want a sale to happen and to happen at an accelerated rate. Let’s assume that WWE is worth about $7-8 billion to sell, if Vince sells, based on his stock options, he’ll get about $3 billion in real money, and he gets to be in charge of WWE again working with this Saudi investment group. So that’s win number one for Vince.
Win number two would be being able to take WWE private again. By taking WWE private, it means he doesn’t have to disclose the financial details of WWE and these investigations go away.
Win number three and maybe the biggest win for Vince McMahon: he can openly brag about getting back his company which he was forced out of back in July. Vince once beat the United States government, Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling, and he beat his own family to take back the company that he built.
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – FEBRUARY 16: Vince McMahon attends a press conference to promote WWE Wrestlemania 29 on February 16, 2012 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Michael N. Todaro/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS – AUGUST 24: World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. Chairman Vince McMahon is introduced during the WWE Monday Night Raw show at the Thomas & Mack Center August 24, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
