TKO’s annual proxy statement was released today, and it contains information on executive compensation for the company in 2025, among other things.
Some of the notable executives we often cover in our corner of the internet include TKO Executive Chair and CEO Ari Emanuel, TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro, and WWE President and CEO Nick Khan. Let’s look at the charts to see how many millions of dollars they each brought in during 2025.
First up is Emanuel with $67.4 million and Shapiro with $42.6
million. Emanuel reportedly made the call to bring in Pat McAfee to WrestleMania 42, which ruined Cody Rhodes main event angle. That kind of genius probably calls for an even higher dollar amount in 2026.
Meanwhile, Nick Khan brought home a cool $24.3 million in 2025 between his salary ($2,000,000), stock awards ($11,526,561), and “other compensation” ($10,761,640). Emanuel gave Khan a bonus of almost four million for his role in helping to launch Zuffa Boxing:
“For fiscal year 2025, Mr. Khan’s bonus award value was determined taking into account Adjusted EBITDA for WWE as the primary, but not only, consideration. As a result, Mr. Khan received an annual bonus payment of $7,000,000. In addition to the annual bonus, Mr. Emanuel determined that Mr. Khan should receive an additional discretionary bonus in the amount of $3,750,000 due to the successful launch of our boxing-related businesses.”
It’s worth noting that Vince McMahon still owns more shares of Class A stock than any other individual. McMahon resigned in disgrace from his role as TKO Executive Chairman in January after Janel Grant filed a sex trafficking lawsuit against him and WWE.
What’s your reaction to seeing how many million of dollars TKO’s top executives made in 2025, combined with WWE’s absurdly high ticket prices during the year? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
