It was announced on Tuesday that Endeavor, the UFC's parent company, and WWE have closed its merger. This merger sparks the launch of TKO, a new organization who will combine the two live-event powerhouses and sports promoters. As of Tuesday morning, TKO began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The merger is split 51% to 49%, with Endeavor owning the controlling percentage while WWE holds the 49%. TKO currently has a $21.4 Billion valuation and will provide 350 annual live events to over a billion fans from 180 different countries.
Vince McMahon, who is the former controlling shareholder and chairman of WWE, will serve as the Executive Chairman of TKO alongside with fellow board member, Nick Khan. The former President of the UFC, Dana White, will now hold the position of UFC CEO. The CEO of TKO will be Endeavor's Ari Emanuel while Mark Shapiro is named the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of TKO.
The merger has finally closed after it was announced that the two companies would merge in April. UFC Senior executive VP and COO Lawrence Epstein said, "We want every UFC fan to be a WWE fan and every WWE fan to be a UFC fan." He went on to further state that UFC executives hd envisioned a world where the UFC and WWE could team-up for "a decade and a half".
There a currently no plans for "massive changes" in both respective organizations. But what could happen, is that the UFC and WWE could both hold major events on the same weekend in one city.
There's also a possibility that we see a talent crossover with former UFC champions like Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey being WWE stars at a point in time.
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