A plan to unite World Wrestling Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship is packed with financial theatricality characteristic of their competitions: NetoStreisand JMAGuilford
, which owns the mixed martial arts business, will tag-team with Vince McMahon’s WWE in deal valued at some $21 billion. This storyline, including projected synergies, leaves a lot to the imagination.
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. And yet WWE’s shares slumped 5% on the news, implying a combined equity valuation of about $15 billion, or some $3 billion short of what the companies touted.
Hedge funds anticipating a more conventional WWE sale may have been caught flat-footed by the unexpected contortions and contributed to the stock-price swings. Making a standard acquisition work would have been tough, requiring monster cost savings to generate a decent return. Instead, in the grand tradition of wrestling, McMahon and Endeavor boss Ari Emanuel are trying to appeal to shareholders with a more unconventional thriller.
The riches promised to WWE’s owners, including McMahon and his family, are great. They’re also somewhat hard to pin down. Ato investors, bereft of the usual questions from Wall Street watchers, dangled a ho-hum $70 million of “operational” synergies alongside other more buoyant, but murkier, gains. These include declaring around half the combined costs to be “addressable” and squeezing more out of soon-to-be-renewed media rights packages.
It’s all quite a spectacle, with the controversial and dramatic McMahon hoisting a $9 billion valuation and Endeavor flexing its original $4 billion UFC investment seven years ago into a $12 billion price tag. How exactly real blood-and-tears UFC contests benefit from being in the same corporate ring with WWE’s scripted Spandex soap operas is not entirely clear, however.
Brasil Últimas Notícias, Brasil Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
UFC owner and World Wrestling Entertainment combining in $21.4 bln dealEndeavor Group Holdings Inc. said Monday it agreed to combine with World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. to form a new, publicly listed company to trade under...
Consulte Mais informação »
Billy Corgan, the wrestling promoter, will put on a benefit wrestling match in Highland ParkBilly Corgan, the owner of the promotion company National Wrestling Alliance, will host a book signing at Madame Zuzu’s with heavyweight wrestler Tyrus and women’s wrestler Madusa, followed by two nights of live matches at Studio One in Highland Park.
Consulte Mais informação »
WWE star Cody Rhodes reveals legendary father slapped man at Waffle House for calling wrestling fakeWWE star Cody Rhodes revealed on Wednesday that his late father, Dusty Rhodes, had punched a man at a Waffle House after the person had called wrestling fake.
Consulte Mais informação »
X-Pac Says Bianca Belair's Next WWE Superstar To Go HollywoodWrestling legend X-Pac thinks WWE Superstar Bianca Belair has a future in Hollywood.
Consulte Mais informação »
UFC and WWE combine to create $21.4B entertainment companyUltimate Fighting Championship owner Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. and WWE are combining to create at $21.4 billion sports entertainment company, a business that will share a diverse audience and expansive social media reach. A new publicly traded company will be formed that houses the UFC and WWE brands. Endeavor will hold a 51% controlling interest in the new company once the deal is complete. Existing WWE shareholders will hold a 49% stake in the new company.
Consulte Mais informação »
UFC, WWE combine to form $21.4B sports entertainment companyWWE and the company that runs Ultimate Fighting Championship will combine to create a $21.4 billion sports entertainment company.
Consulte Mais informação »