AEW President Tony Khan reportedly placed a bid to buy WWE during the company’s 2023 sale process.
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlemomics posted an exclusive story on POST Wrestling, revealing that newly unredacted court documents confirmed that AEW owner Tony Khan placed a bid to buy WWE in 2023. The revelation came from a shareholder lawsuit in Delaware challenging the promotion’s eventual sale to Endeavor, which led to the formation of TKO Group Holdings. The plaintiff shareholders allege that former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon bypassed the other bidders in favor of Endeavor because its lead executive, Ari Emanuel, assured McMahon’s future with the company.
According to the documents, Base 10, a company backed by Tony Khan, placed a $6.9 billion bid to buy WWE in 2023. They also revealed the other suitors who had also placed their bids to buy the promotion. In addition to Khan’s company and Endeavor, Formula One parent company Liberty Media, and the private equity firm KKR were the other bidders.
Although the documents don’t mention Tony Khan by name, they indicate his and AEW’s connection to Base 10. The filing states: “Base 10 is the owner of All Elite Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion that plainly would enjoy significant synergies with WWE.”
Brandon Thurston noted that while the complaint describes Base 10 as AEW’s owner, legal filings unrelated to this lawsuit reveal that Beatnik Investments LLC, a separate entity of the Khan family, is the promotion’s parent company. Florida business records show that Base 10, incorporated in 2014, listed Tony Khan as its sole officer. A 2015 Sports Business Journal article also quoted Khan discussing the company.
POST Wrestling reached out to the entities involved, and while Tony Khan and KKR declined to make a statement, the others didn’t respond.
Tony Khan placed the lowest bid to buy WWE
Despite placing a $6.9 billion bid, Tony Khan’s offer was the lowest of the four by a considerable margin. Below are the offers:
- Base 10: $6.9 billion ($76.83 per share)
- KKR: $8.0 billion to $8.7 billion ( $90 – $97.50 per share)
- Liberty Media: $8.5 billion to $8.9 billion ($95 to $100 per share)
- Endeavor: $8.5 billion ($95.66 per share) – winning bid
WWE had protected the bidders’ identities with pseudonyms in its SEC Filings after finalizing the merger with Endeavor. KKR was mentioned as “Financial Sponsor 1,” Liberty as “Strategic Party 1,” and Tony Khan’s company as “Strategic Party 2.”
The filing also noted that Base 10 “indicated that it would need equity and debt financing partners in order to complete a transaction with WWE.” Since the offer wasn’t strong enough, only the other three parties gained access to WWE’s “data room,” a private archive of sensitive financial information reserved for top-tier suitors.
While media outlets had discussed companies such as NBCUniversal (or its parent, Comcast), Disney, Amazon, and Netflix as potential suitors to acquire WWE, Thurston reported that those large media players didn’t place bids. Despite the rumors, the Saudi Arabian government also didn’t place a bid.
The lawsuit over WWE’s merger with Endeavor is set to go to trial in June. If the plaintiffs succeed, they could win monetary damages, which would be paid out to shareholders who held WWE shares during the relevant period.
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