TKO Holdings Group Ready To ‘Fire Out Of The Gate’ After WWE & UFC Merger

WWE and UFC’s merger is now complete, and TKO Holdings Group is the new company. They are doing well on the stock market as well, so the business side of things is ready to go.

While peaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Endeavor President and COO Mark Shapiro commented on the future of both companies following the merger. Things are looking up, and there is a lot of excitement.

Mark Shapiro went on to say that, “We’re ready to fire out of the gate.” Upon the merger of the two companies, Endeavor and its executive team will, “now have a much stronger and firmer seat at the table. But our first mission is to fully capitalize on this insatiable demand for premium content and live events.”

While speaking to Deadline, Mark Shairo said that WWE and UFC have “a lot less overlap than you’d think.” This new TKO Holdings Group was described as “family centric” in the sense that “it kind of indexes more entertainment. Versus MMA, which indexes extremely diverse, very international, and kind of college age.”

Mark Shapiro clarified that WWE and UFC media rights deals won’t be combined domestically due to their distinct renewal schedules. That being said, their international deals are a different story.

“Internationally, there is a lot of opportunity for that. But currently [in the U.S.] we’ll be negotiating UFC and WWE individually, just by [virtue] of the fact that they’re in different renewal cycles.”

On the topic of cost synergies, Mark Shapiro stated that they will be “wringing out” those cost synergies. Right now it appears that they are identifying those areas.

“We will be wringing out cost synergies, but at the same time identifying those areas that are under-monetized or where revenue synergy significantly exists. And that’s happening across our domestic and international media rights, our sponsorship and global partnerships, our product licensing, enhancing our live events, through ticket yield, venue fees, and premium experiences and then just overall expanding internationally, all of these businesses and doing it with a halo of the Endeavor flywheel which cannot be underestimated the influence and impact that will bring.”

We will have to see what the future holds for WWE and UFC. TKO Holdings Group is making a lot of people on Wall Street money today, and they are also very excited about that. Only time will tell how this new company continues to shape the sports and entertainment world.

What’s your take on WWE and UFC’s merger? Sound off in the comments to let us know what you think!