Vince McMahon Sells $100 Million of WWE Stock To Fund New Sports Company

Vince McMahon has sold $100 million worth of WWE Stock after filing five XFL-related trademarks last week. Part of the reason that McMahon sold such a large amount of stock is to fund his new sports-focused company, which is expected to focus on football. News of both broke today. The SEC Form that was filed for the 3.34 million shares of stock noted:

“On December 21, 2017, Vincent K. McMahon (“Mr. McMahon”), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company”), sold 3,340,000 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock in a block trade made in accordance with the provisions of Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Mr. McMahon executed the sale primarily to fund a separate entity from the Company, Alpha Entertainment LLC, which Mr. McMahon established to explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football. Mr. McMahon has informed the Company that he has no current plan to sell additional shares of the Company’s stock and that he intends to continue in his capacity as the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the foreseeable future.

The shares sold by Mr. McMahon represent approximately 4.3% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. After the sale, Mr. McMahon beneficially owns 32,193,375 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, which represents approximately 82.8% of the Company’s total voting power and approximately 41.8% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock.”

The XFL trademarks were filed on December 16th, as reported by ESPN Sports Business reporter Darren Rovell. While WWE filed for the trademarks earlier this year, these new registrations are through Alpha Entertainment.

The news has had an adverse affect on WWE’s stock, which dropped $1.07 ($3.36%) in after-hours trading to $30.80.

Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment has filed for five trademarks to "XFL."

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 21, 2017

the records say they did it on December 16 and it just showed up in the trademark office filings.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 21, 2017