Soon after Vince McMahon forced his way back onto the WWE Board of Directors in January 2023 and put the company up for sale, AEW President Tony Khan publicly stated that he was interested in purchasing the company. Post Wrestling’s Brandon Thurston now reports that Khan did in fact make a bid of 6.9 billion dollars during the sales window.
The information was revealed in unredacted court documents related to the current shareholder lawsuit that claims the WWE sales process was a sham; the suit alleges
that the WWE Board members favored a quick sale to McMahon-ally Ari Emanuel (to merge with UFC and form TKO) that was designed to keep Vince in power at WWE, rather than trying to maximize shareholder value with a fair sales process that would not be focused on protecting McMahon’s position in the company.
The unredacted documents from November 2023 show that the bidding companies were Liberty Media, Endeavor, KKR, and Base 10. It goes on to describe Base 10 as “the owner of All Elite Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion that plainly would enjoy significant synergies with WWE.”
Thurston adds the following note:
“Further public records unrelated to the lawsuit independently confirm Khan’s connection to Base 10. Florida business records show that BASE10, Inc. was incorporated in 2014, listing Khan as its sole officer and the company’s address at the stadium for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL team his family owns.”
Thurston goes on to do the math and estimate that Khan’s bid for WWE (roughly $6.9 billion) was lower than the eventual winner Endeavor ($8.5 billion), Liberty Media ($8.5 billion to $8.9 billion), and KKR ($8.0 billion to $8.7 billion). The lawsuit alleges that the WWE sales process was quickly ended before those competitive bids by Liberty Media and KKR were allowed to possibly go even higher.
What’s your reaction to Tony Khan’s bid to purchase WWE? Does the number $6.9 billion make you feel more confident about AEW’s ability to stick around long term as the number two wrestling promotion in the USA? Can you imagine living in an alternate universe where Khan controls both AEW and WWE?
Let me know all your thoughts about this story in the comments below, Cagesiders.
