Nick Khan Explains Why Vince McMahon Wants to Sell WWE Now, What Options Are On the Table

Vince McMahon has returned to WWE to explore a potential sale of the company, and WWE CEO Nick Khan recently weighed in on why and how. Khan spoke with Bill Simmons on the latter’s podcast about McMahon’s return to explore “strategic options” and how any variation of a sale are potentially on the table. You can check out a couple of highlights below:

On why Vince McMahon wants to sell now: “I think he’s ready. You know, I can’t describe it as anything more than that, after the last five months. And keep in mind again, you engaged in empire-building, you’re still engaged in empire-building. At a certain point, it’s like, ‘Okay, how much more of this empire am I gonna build?’ We continue to build it, he continued to build it until he stepped down five months or so ago.

“But I think in looking at a world of consolidation, the sort of stand-alone enterprise that owns 99% of its intellectual property with the media rights and the library, right? With the media rights coming up in October of 2024, which means the process starts in a few months on that, certainly to go lock in a bunch of long-term deals and then to sell or try to sell to everybody doesn’t make sense. The timing was now.”

On all options being on the table including a partial sale: “No, that’s in play. So again when he’s using the term ‘strategic alternative,’ it’s not to be cute. It’s basically, we’re looking at everything. So if he said, ‘I’m looking to sell the company,’ well, what does that mean? A piece of it, all of it? Do you merge the company, do you buy another company instead of selling the company? Do you sell the company outright?

“A lot of it will come down to price, but I don’t think all of it. It’s, ‘What’s the best value for the shareholder?’ And certainly ‘What’s the best value for Vince after the shareholder?’ So the stock, after the announcement is flying high as you may have seen. It’s around $90 a share now. How much more is somebody going to offer on that that makes it a transaction that he wants to do?”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Bill Simmons Podcast with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.