Getty Image
A lawsuit filed by a group of former WWE shareholders claims the WWE-UFC merger was a “sham sales process” designed to protect Vince McMahon.
Court documents filed in Delaware claim Vince McMahon “used his domineering personality and control over WWE to carry out his own personal agenda at the expense of the Company’s public stockholders.”
McMahon, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, and five other members of the WWE board of directors are accused of maneuvering the sale towards McMahon’s “longtime friend” Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. Endeavor is UFC’s parent company.
This alleged “sham sales process” was “designed to favor Endeavor and exclude other bidders seeking to axe McMahon” and to “secure [McMahon’s] power and control over the company in the face of mounting stockholder discontent and government investigations.”
McMahon was forced from his post as WWE CEO and president for six months due to investigations into sexual abuse, harassment allegations and multi-million dollar hush money payments.
He only returned to the company after he elected himself and two former co-presidents and directors, Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, to the company’s board of directors using his shareholder voting power.
The lawsuit also claims that multiple other bidders made cash offers that were substantially higher than Endeavor did, but the Endeavor deal was the one that would allow McMahon to continue serving as executive chairman of the combined company.
The accepted deal with the UFC group was allegedly “far below the offers” that could have been obtained from other companies if McMahon and the WWE board had “made any effort to negotiate in good faith.”
“Not only did he secure a future for himself at post-merger WWE, McMahon also stuffed his pockets and those of his loyalists before agreeing to a deal,” the lawsuit reads.
[MMA Fighting, Bloomberg, THR]