Chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc, Vince McMahon persists to keep selling shares of WWE. He has been making big financial decisions in hope of XFL’s relaunch next year. According to WWE’s official filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the CEO of WWE sold 3,204,427 shares of his stock in the wrestling promotion. The shares were worth approximately $270 million.
WWE’s SEC filing on the sale showed the following statement:
“On March 27, 2019, Vincent K. McMahon (“Mr. McMahon”), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Inc. (the “Company”), sold 3,204,427 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock in a block trade made in accordance with the provisions of Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Mr. McMahon executed the sale primarily to fund a separate entity from the Company, Alpha Entertainment LLC “Alpha”), which Mr. McMahon established to explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including launching a professional football league under the name “XFL”. Alpha has announced that this launch will occur in early 2020. Mr. McMahon has informed the Company that he has no current plan to sell additional shares of the Company’s stock and that he intends to continue in his capacity as the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the foreseeable future.
The shares sold by Mr. McMahon represent approximately 4.1% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. After the sale, Mr. McMahon beneficially owns 28,682,948 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, which represents approximately 80.1% of the Company’s total voting power and approximately 36.8% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock.”
This is not the first time Vince McMahon has sold his company’s shares. In December 2017, he had sold 3.34 million shares worth about $100 million. In November 2018, Vince sold off 306,000 shares which were worth more than $23 million.
McMahon is expected to spend about $500 million for XFL’s first three seasons according to a report on ESPN’s website by Darren Rovell. XFL has been a huge failure in the past but the chairman of WWE is trying his best to turn the venture into a success. The revamped XFL is expected to launch in February 2020. The professional American football league will have eight teams off which four have already appointed their head coaches.
