Stephanie McMahon: I Offered To Return From My Leave Of Absence

Stephanie McMahon loves WWE and the business of sports entertainment, and she is passionate about leading the company into the future.

Her father, Vince McMahon, retired on July 22 during the WWE Board of Directors’ investigation into hush money he allegedly paid to suppress alleged sexual misconduct. Stephanie and Nick Khan were subsequently named the co-CEOs, while Paul “Triple H” Levesque took over as the head of creative. Before Stephanie acquired this new role, she had been a leave of absence, as she had cited the need to spend time with her family.

During a conference call about WWE’s earnings for the second quarter, Stephanie McMahon was asked if being co-CEO is what she wants in the long term. She was also asked to describe how important it is to her to continue her family’s legacy. In response, she looked back on how she has worked in WWE since she was a child, and she has always loved this business. She also referenced her leave of absence and made it clear that while she took some time away to be with her family, she offered to come back when it became necessary to do so.

“I have worked in WWE since I’ve been about eight years old, modeling merchandise for our then-catalog, in any variety of capacities,” said McMahon. “My parents couldn’t afford a nanny when we were bringing up the business, so on weekends, I was sitting with our receptionist at headquarters.

“I’ve worked my entire life for this business, I love this business. I took a leave of absence, realizing that I needed a little bit of time with my family, given the grueling schedule and nature. I got about three weeks, which is more than a lot of other folks get, and I was not forced into returning as the CEO and chairman in the interim position. I offered. That was an opportunity for me to come back and be a part of this company that I love and have the opportunity to lead this company.”

McMahon continued by making it clear that she’s passionate about the business and the way WWE brings people together. She also stated that, even as the new leadership team strives to move forward, Vince McMahon remains the biggest shareholder, and he still has his eyes on what is best for WWE.

“This business is something I believe in to my core,” said McMahon. “I believe in the impact that we make on people’s lives, not only growing the business, which I believe we have so many different opportunities to do, that’s been laid out by all of us here speaking today. But because of the impact that we make. We truly bring people together for generations from all over the world, with all different backgrounds. We give them relief, we give them entertainment, we give them an opportunity to come together that is very rare and unusual and special, and whatever we can do to continue to deliver on that promise is what we want to do.

“Now that being said, I understand your remarks and I think I’m reading between the lines subtly, but that being said, Vince McMahon, my father, is still very much the controlling shareholder. He still has his eyes on what is the best for our business, in terms of maximizing return to shareholders, of which he is the biggest shareholder. Nick, Paul, Frank and I remain focused on delivering the maximum results for our shareholders, so we will properly evaluate any opportunity that comes our way with that lens in mind.”