Vince McMahon shocked the world when he announced his retirement from WWE amidst an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct and hush money payments. In the wake of his retirement, his daughter Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan were named co-CEO’s of the company, while Triple H now serves as Chief Content Officer, placing him in charge of both live events and talent.
Despite reception to the new regime being overwhelmingly positive and the nature of the allegations against him, Vince McMahon made waves once more when he announced last week that as majority shareholder, he was electing himself back to the company’s Board of Directors along with former co-presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson. His return was with the intention to prepare the company for a sale, and the Saudi Investment Fund appeared to be a frontrunner among a list of potential buyers.
Shockwaves kept on coming on January 10th as not only did Stephanie McMahon announce her official resignation from WWE, her father was unanimously elected Executive Chairman of the WWE Board Of Directors.
Reports Emerge That WWE Has Been Sold To The Saudi Investment Fund, Will No Longer Be Publicly Traded
Mere hours after the news of Stephanie’s resignation and her father being elected Chairman of the Board, reports began to emerge that the potential sale of WWE to the Saudi Investment Fund had indeed gone through. Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net confirmed the news in a tweet, noting that not only had the sale gone through, but the company was going to return to being a private entity instead of a publicly traded corporation.
“For what it’s worth, I’m told the Saudi deal is done and they’re taking the company private.”
For what it’s worth, I’m told the Saudi deal is done and they’re taking the company private.
— Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net (@Casshooole) January 11, 2023
Steve Muehlhausen of DAZN also reported the news, adding that some within the company expect Vince to return to his position as head of creative, at least partially taking over the role that Triple H now occupies as Chief Content Officer.
“Sources: #WWE has been sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The company will go back to being private. Unknown if Vince McMahon will return to head of creative but it is expected by some people.”
Sources: #WWE has been sold to
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The company will go back to being private. Unknown if Vince McMahon will return to head of creative but it is expected by some people.— Steven Muehlhausen (@SMuehlhausenJr) January 11, 2023
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful confirmed that he’d heard the rumors of a sale, but that he couldn’t confirm the sale had gone through. In a series of tweets, he did point out that the sports betting site Bovada has stopped taking bets on who will buy the sports entertainment giant, but also strongly pointed out that he was unable to confirm the sale rumors at this time, and that some sources within the company don’t believe the rumors to be true.
“More on the HOT SAUDI RUMOR: that the WWE sale is done they’ll go private. I haven’t confirmed any of this. At all. But hey, you guys wanna know what all of the dark twitter tweets are about.
Bovada, which sent Fightful betting odds just hours ago on who would buy WWE, is no longer taking bets on it
Again — NOBODY IN WWE HAS CONFIRMED THIS — some have even said they don’t believe it!
‘Wrestling Twitter tweeted things so loud and vague they were startled by their own echos I think’ is a message I was sent by a colleague and something I completely agree with, and could VERY WELL BE THE CASE! I’m sure WWE will need to say something sooner or later.”
Bovada, which sent Fightful betting odds just hours ago on who would buy WWE, is no longer taking bets on it pic.twitter.com/PDU08Nm53X
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) January 11, 2023
"Wrestling Twitter tweeted things so loud and vague they were startled by their own echos I think" is a message I was sent by a colleague and something I completely agree with, and could VERY WELL BE THE CASE!
I'm sure WWE will need to say something sooner or later.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) January 11, 2023
Inside the Ropes will continue to report as more information becomes available regarding this developing story.