DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Football-XFL and USFL announce intent to merge
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSept 28 (Reuters) - The XFL and USFL said on Thursday that the two troubled American grid iron leagues plan to merge and begin play next year. The XFL is owned by movie star Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson while the USFL is under the ownership of Fox Corp. In a joint statement the XFL and USFL said the merger will be subject to customary regulatory approvals. Neither the XFL or USFL or a new league pose a threat to NFL dominance with the merged entity continuing to play a Spring schedule. McMahon relaunched the league in 2020 but never finished the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Persons: Landry Jones, Kirby Lee, Dwayne, Johnson, Vince McMahon, McMahon, Steve Keating Organizations: Dallas Renegades, XFL, LA Wildcats, Health Sports Park, The Renegades, Wildcats, USA, USFL, Fox Corp, National Football League, Fox, NBC, Disney, NFL, longtime WWE, RedBird Capital Partners, Thomson Locations: Carson , California, USA, U.S, Toronto

☆ Vince McMahon subpoenaed in sexual misconduct investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

New York CNN —Federal law enforcement agents executed a search warrant and subpoenaed World Wrestling Entertainment executive chairman Vince McMahon last month as part of an investigation into claims of sexual misconduct, the company announced this week. Following his departure, the WWE disclosed multiple expenses that McMahon hadn’t reported, totaling $19.6 million. Many of the payments are related to the company’s investigation of his alleged sexual misconduct, and the company’s board last year formed a special committee to investigate. The Wall Street Journal in July 2022 reported McMahon paid tens of millions of dollars to four women to cover up “allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity.” McMahon has denied the allegations. So far, he has repaid the WWE $17.4 million, the company reported Wednesday.

Persons: Vince McMahon, McMahon, McMahon hadn’t, ” McMahon Organizations: New, New York CNN, Wrestling Entertainment, WWE, Street, Endeavor Group, UFC Locations: New York

☆ Vince McMahon Subpoenaed in Sexual-Misconduct Probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Joseph De Avila | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/vince-mcmahon-subpoena-sexual-misconduct-probe-wwe-857b5e0f

Persons: Dow Jones, vince, mcmahon Organizations: wwe

☆ WWE boss Vince McMahon hit with federal grand jury subpoena and search warrant, company reveals
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. Chairman Vince McMahon appears in the ring during the WWE Monday Night Raw show at the Thomas & Mack Center August 24, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Federal law enforcement agents executed a search warrant on World Wrestling Entertainment boss Vince McMahon last month and served him with a federal grand jury subpoena, the company disclosed Wednesday. Reached for comment Wednesday, the company said they believe the subpoena and search warrant are "a continuation of the investigation that commenced last summer. WWE and Endeavor both expect the deal to close in the second half of this year, WWE said Wednesday. The search warrant and subpoena on July 17 came a year after news first broke that federal prosecutors and the SEC were investigating WWE and McMahon over his payments to women.

Persons: Vince McMahon, McMahon, McMahon's Organizations: Entertainment Inc, WWE, Thomas &, World Wrestling Entertainment, Securities and Exchange Commission, CNBC, UFC, Endeavor Group, Endeavor, SEC Locations: Las Vegas , Nevada

☆ When You Can’t Believe What You’re Seeing
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Rory Smith | More About Rory Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nobody is quite sure where the term “kayfabe” originated. It may be a bastardized form of pig Latin, something to do with the actual word “fake.” It may have its roots in the culture of wandering 19th-century carnivals, the world inhabited by P.T. Barnum and the confidence men and the salesmen who sold actual snake oil. Its modern usage, though, is sufficiently specific that only a relatively small proportion of people would even have a sense of what it means. For decades, wrestlers were expected to keep kayfabe even when they were off the clock.

Persons: ”, . Barnum, Abraham Josephine Riesman delineates, Vince McMahon —, Donald Trump Organizations: World, Entertainment Locations: “

☆ Middle Eastern investors are pouring money into US media, sports, and entertainment — here are the 9 most active players and their key leaders
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Lucia Moses | Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Investors in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates are pouring money into Western media and entertainment. Sovereign funds and other entities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE are pouring millions into US media and entertainment, and they're finding plenty of takers. The channels for money from Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East are complex. Insider broke down the key entities — their owners, leaders, and high-profile investments and joint ventures — in the top three Middle Eastern nations pouring money into US entertainment and media. It describes itself as the largest media company in the Middle East and North Africa and runs one of the largest TV news channels, Al Arabiya.

Persons: Jamal Khashoggi's, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, —, WME, Jimmy Finkelstein's, Abu Dhabi's, It's, Yasir Al, Rumayyan, Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, Sam Barnett, Peter Smith —, Christina Wayne, SRMG, Mohammed bin Salman, Alrashid, Johnny Depp, Jeanne du Barry, Sharon Stone, Bruno Mars, Luca Guadanigno, Vince McMahon's, Turki Al, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Dayel, Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al, Mahmoud, Peter Chernin, Nasser Al, Germain, BeIN, Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad, Khalifa Al, Vincent, Asghar Farhadi's Oscar, Nart Bouran, JAF, Jeff Zucker, Graydon Carter's, it's, Semafor, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mansour, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber Organizations: United, Sovereign, Saudi, Washington Post, Saudi Crown, Endeavor, UFC, IMI, Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation, Public Investment Fund, Saudi Aramco, Newcastle United, English football, PGA, MBC, Shahid, Netflix, Vice Media, Variety, MBC Group's, Antenna Group, Cineflex Studios, NBCUniversal International, Amazon, AMC, Saudi Research, Media, Publicly, Red Sea, Cannes, Penske Media Corporation, Bloomberg Media, Vince McMahon's WWE, country's General Entertainment Authority, Development, Cultural Development Fund, George Washington University, American University . Qatar Qatar Investment, Qatar Investment Authority, Providence, BeIN Media, Paris Saint, Miramax, Paramount, Doha Film, Doha Film Institute, H.E, Hollywood Reporter, United Arab Emirates Abu, Investment Authority, UAE, Abu, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Hollywood, Dubai Studio, Dubai Media City, National Geographic, BBC News, International Media Investments International Media Investments, National, CNN, Sky News Arabia, Reuters, JAF Communications, Grid, RedBird Capital Partners, Punchbowl News, New York Times, Manchester City, The, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Locations: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, UAE, Saudi, East, North Africa, Al Arabiya, Netherlands, Greece, Dubai, Jeddah, SRMG, Riyadh, Doha, Europe, Americas, ViacomCBS, Qatari, Thani, Abu Dhabi

☆ Keith Meister’s Corvex Management bets on Amazon, slashes other big tech holdings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Keith Meister's Corvex Management scooped up shares of Amazon during the first quarter, while slashing its stakes in technology giants Alphabet and Microsoft . Meister also bought shares of Endeavor Group , a position worth $44.9 million at the end of the first quarter. Other new bets from Corvex included a $22.7 million position in Uber Technologies and a stake in Algonquin Power . Prior to launching Corvex, Meister worked closely with legendary activist investor Carl Icahn. At the end of the first quarter, Corvex managed about $2.9 billion in regulatory assets, according to securities filings.

World Wrestling Entertainment and Endeavor's UFC announced last month they would merge later this year. The new operation will be called TKO Group Holdings, a spokesperson for Endeavor confirmed Tuesday. Emanuel has said he intends to run "the same playbook" with WWE that Endeavor did with UFC, whose revenue surged 20% from 2021 to 2022. UFC and WWE will retain their respective names as part of TKO Group. "This is going to be UFC 2.0," Emanuel said in an interview that aired last month on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

☆ WWE taps Fanatics to sell merchandise at live events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

That means Fanatics will now operate all of the on-site retail at the WWE's more than 300 events throughout the year, including its premier live events like WrestleMania and the Royale Rumble. Fanatics became WWE's global e-commerce partner in 2022, a deal that later grew to include licensed merchandise, memorabilia, trading cards and collectibles. WWE has seen its live-event merchandise business grow as the company has returned to a fuller slate of events and shows as the pandemic has waned. In 2022, WWE reported that it had $23.8 million in venue merchandise revenue across 231 live events in 2022, up from $10.1 million the previous year when the company only had 101 live events. Fanatics' existing relationships across sports could also further benefit WWE, Varga said.

☆ TechCheck Weekly #5: Sports Rights Sleeper Hold
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailTechCheck Weekly #5: Sports Rights Sleeper HoldAri Emanuel & Vince McMahon. Apple & Major League Soccer? A whole lot of investors, owners, CEOs and companies are betting that the value of televised sports is going up. It's in limited supply. What Endeavor's deal to pull WWE & UFC together tells us about media valuations and where things are headed for the tech companies trying to get involved.

☆ The UFC-WWE deal could be the boost the M&A market needs to get back into gear
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Citigroup, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America were among the banks advising on the deal. Earlier this year, some pegged the merger market getting back into the swing of things by mid-year. When you think about it, the WWE-UFC deal might be the best way to get the market going again. Fight for media rights: Both UFC and WWE have streaming deals with ESPN and NBCUniversal's Peacock, respectively. The crypto community is now pitching itself as playing a key role in AI development thanks to its decentralized nature.

April 3 (Reuters) - World Wrestling Entertainment Inc (WWE.N) will combine with Endeavor Group-owned (EDR.N) mixed martial arts franchise UFC to form a new, publicly listed entertainment giant valued at about $21 billion, the companies said on Monday. Hollywood power broker and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will take the helm at the merged entity. In January, WWE said it would explore strategic options that could include a sale, shortly after long-time CEO McMahon's return to the company. McMahon had retired in July last year as the company's CEO and chair, following an investigation into his alleged misconduct. Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon, who single-handedly managed the mantle when her father exited, resigned a week after he returned in January.

☆ WWE sells itself to UFC
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The deal values the newly combined company at over $21 billion: UFC is worth $12.1 billion and WWE is valued at $9.3 billion. Endeavor shareholders will own 51% of the newly combined company, while WWE shareholders are getting 49%. Endeavor, which also owns Hollywood’s biggest talent agency William Morris Endeavor, became the outright owner of the UFC in 2021. Following his departure, WWE disclosed multiple expenses that Vince McMahon hadn’t previously reported, totaling $19.6 million. The WWE made more than $1.29 billion in revenue in 2022 and its shares up more than 30% for the year.

☆ Saudi money is flowing to US media and entertainment, from Live Nation to LIV Golf, 5 years after Jamal Khashoggi's murder: 'The ice has thawed'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Claire Atkinson | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +20 min

Sovereign funds and other entities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE are pouring millions into US media and entertainment. Insider identified some key people connecting Middle East investors with American companies. Saudi Arabia is trying to pitch itself to the world as a cultural and economic reformer and spur tourism. Vince McMahon's WWE has a long-term partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with a major live WWE event there slated for May. Vince McMahon's WWE was one of the first US companies to create unique events in Saudi Arabia.

Shares of WWE fell in premarket trading, while Endeavor shares rose. Ari Emanuel will act as chief executive of both Endeavor and the new company, the companies said. McMahon, likewise, will be executive chairman, while Endeavor President and COO Mark Shapiro will also work in the same roles at the new company. Dana White will remain as president of UFC, and WWE CEO Nick Khan will stay on as president of the wrestling business. Stefanie Keenan | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty ImagesThe announcement confirmed an earlier CNBC report.

Talent agency Endeavor (EDR.N), which owns the mixed martial arts business, will tag-team with Vince McMahon’s WWE in deal valued at some $21 billion. The merger unveiled on Monday creates a new publicly traded company 51% owned by Endeavor and 49% by WWE shareholders. On paper, the WWE enterprise gets the sweeter valuation, at around 24 times last year’s EBITDA, whereas UFC is pegged at 19 times. Instead, in the grand tradition of wrestling, McMahon and Endeavor boss Ari Emanuel are trying to appeal to shareholders with a more unconventional thriller. Under terms of the deal, WWE is being valued on the basis of $106 per share, implying an enterprise valuation of $9.3 billion, according to the companies.

☆ Endeavor to merge with WWE for a $21 billion dollar deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailEndeavor to merge with WWE for a $21 billion dollar dealVince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment has agreed to merge with UFC to form a new publicly traded company controlled by Endeavor Group , the companies announced Monday morning.

☆ Endeavor-UFC deal is the next evolution of WWE, says Vince McMahon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailEndeavor-UFC deal is the next evolution of WWE, says Vince McMahonVince McMahon, WWE co-founder and executive chairman, and Ari Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, join 'Halftime' to discuss the latest merger between WWE and Endeavor.

☆ WWE is combining with Endeavor Group's UFC to form a new company
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —World Wrestling Entertainment is merging with Endeavor Group, the parent company of competitor UFC, to form a new publicly traded company. The deal values the newly combined company at over $21 billion: UFC is worth $12.1 billion and WWE is valued at $9.3 billion. Endeavor shareholders will own 51% of the newly combined company, while WWE shareholders are getting 49%. Vince McMahon will retain his current WWE title of executive chairman at the new company, which doesn’t yet have name. Endeavor, which also owns Hollywood’s biggest talent agency William Morris Endeavor, became the outright owner of the UFC in 2021.

☆ Watch Scott Wapner's full interview with Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and WWE's Vince McMahon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch Scott Wapner's full interview with Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and WWE's Vince McMahonEndeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon joined CNBC's Scott Wapner for an exclusive interview on the deal between UFC and WWE.

☆ 9 Middle Eastern funds and investors pouring money into US media, sports, and entertainment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Lucia Moses | Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Governments and investors in the Middle East are pouring money into Western media and entertainment. Sovereign funds and other entities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE are pouring millions into US media and entertainment, and they're finding plenty of takers. The channels for money from Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East are complex. Insider broke down the key entities — their owners, leaders, and high-profile investments and joint ventures — in the top three Middle Eastern nations pouring money into US entertainment and media. It describes itself as the largest media company in the Middle East and North Africa and runs one of the largest TV news channels, Al Arabiya.

Endeavor and WWE did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday. The deal could be announced as early as this week, the sources said. Endeavor shareholders will own 51% of the combined company, while WWE shareholders would get 49%, the sources said. Endeavor is led by Hollywood power broker Ari Emanuel, who earlier this month declined to answer questions about a possible deal. In January, WWE said it would explore strategic options that could include a sale, shortly after Vince McMahon's return to the company.

☆ WWE near deal to be sold to UFC parent Endeavor, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment is in advanced talks to be sold to Ari Emanuel's Endeavor Group , the parent company of UFC, according to people familiar with the matter. McMahon, likewise, is expected to be executive chairman, while Endeavor President Mark Shapiro will also work in the same role at the new company. Dana White will remain as president of UFC, while WWE CEO Nick Khan will serve as president of the wrestling business. Paul Levesque, who's both Stephanie McMahon's husband and the wrestler known as Triple H, took over creative duties from Vince McMahon. When Vince McMahon came back in January, Stephanie McMahon stepped down and Khan fully assumed the CEO role.

☆ Vince McMahon locks in two-year contract as WWE looks for buyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

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. Vince McMahon has pinned down a two-year employment contract at World Wrestling Entertainment . The WWE chairman's agreement dates back to Jan. 9, when he returned to the company, according to a securities filing. McMahon returned to WWE's board in January help with the sale negotiations. At the time, his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, had taken over as co-CEO of WWE, a family business for the McMahons.

☆ Vince McMahon Reimburses WWE for Costs Tied to Sexual-Misconduct Probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Sabela Ojea | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Search resuls for: "Vince McMahon"

25 mentions found