The world of professional wrestling could have been very different in 2023 if Tony Khan had managed to buy WWE. But as Khan recently shared, he faced a massive disadvantage during the bidding process that made things harder for him.
After Vince McMahon stepped down in 2022, WWE opened itself up for a sale. This opened the door for big buyers, and Khan saw it as a huge opportunity.
Tony Khan says he was ‘flying blind’ during the WWE bid process
Khan made an offer of around $6.9 billion through his company, Base 10. While that’s a massive amount, the biggest issue was that Khan didn’t get access to WWE’s “data room,” which includes private financial details usually shared with serious buyers.
Because of that, Khan said he was basically “flying blind.” During a media call ahead of AEW Dynasty, he said (via Wrestling Observer Newsletter), “And given some of the restrictions, I think compared to other people, I was flying blind. Some of this, I guess, is publicly available information. I will respect the process, and there’s only so much I can say, but based on the information I had to put a bid together, I basically had the same market information everyone else had, which is why the bid I made was very close to the stock market price.
He had to depend only on public information, like WWE’s stock value. While that made sense, it also meant his bid wasn’t as detailed or informed as others. But he understood why WWE didn’t share sensitive details with him, especially since he runs a rival company, AEW.
“I had no more information than the rest of the public, no data room access or anything, and I’m sure that’s why they all made it further in the process than I did. As to what happened after my involvement in it, I can’t say with the other three parties, but I understood why they wouldn’t want to give me data room access,” Khan added.
In the end, Khan didn’t win the deal. Endeavor bought WWE and later merged it with UFC to create TKO Group Holdings.
Read More: Tony Khan Addresses $6.9 Billion WWE Purchase Interest in 2023
