Vince McMahon Must Remain WWE Chairman Until His Death Or Resignation Under New Endeavor Deal

WWE saw Vince McMahon retire from the company, only to return and usher in a sale. That ended in Endeavor’s merger of UFC and WWE into a new yet-to-be-named publicly traded company under the stock name TKO. Now we know a bit more about the process behind the scenes that kept Mr. McMahon aboard.

Wrestlenomics recently published a timeline detailing the series of events that led to the agreement that merged WWE and UFC together. This highlighted the importance of Vince McMahon’s role throughout the process.

On February 7th, Endeavor presented a proposal expressing their interest in merging UFC with WWE. At the time, the suggested ownership split was 57% for Endeavor and 43% for WWE. After that, WWE received interest from multiple parties, including three that were interested in acquiring the entire company with a cash transaction.

However, after several meetings, on March 22nd, Vince McMahon and Nick Khan met with Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro from Endeavor to counter-propose the terms. Their revised offer proposed a split of 51% for Endeavor and 49% for WWE, instead of the initial 57%/43% split.

After they arranged that deal, on March 23, Endeavor submitted a revised offer that agreed to the 51%/49% split that WWE wanted, but there was a significant condition attached. The condition stipulated that Vince McMahon must remain as WWE’s executive chairman until his death, resignation, or incapacity.

Mar 23: Endeavor’s legal advisor Latham gave WWE a revised term sheet, proposing Vince as executive chair until death, resignation or incapacity, as a condition of giving WWE a 49/51 increased valuation. Vince would also get 5 of 11 board seats and certain veto rights.

Endeavor was only willing to accept the 51%/49% split if Vince McMahon continued to serve as WWE’s executive chairman. Additional terms of the agreement included WWE receiving five out of the 11 board of directors members, with McMahon retaining certain veto rights.

Just over a week later, the deal was finalized, solidifying the merger. Then the world knew about the company’s big plans. This was certainly a deal that only Vince McMahon could have pulled off, and now he is bound to remain Chairman of WWE until he dies, or decides to give up the job himself.

What’s your take on this situation with Vince McMahon? Sound off in the comments!