TKO Group formed by WWE and UFC merger

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Endeavor's UFC have announced that they will merge later this year under the name TKO Group Holdings. The name is a reference to the professional fighting term "technical knockout." The merged company hopes to create a sports entertainment giant valued at more than $20 billion. Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will be the CEO of TKO Group, while Vince McMahon, WWE's controlling shareholder and longtime boss, will serve as executive chairman of the new company. Endeavor will own a 51% stake, while WWE shareholders will get the remaining 49%. The deal is set to close in the second half of the year, and UFC and WWE will retain their respective names as part of TKO Group. Despite WWE being scripted and UFC featuring authentic fights, the two organizations share much in common in terms of their combat sports content and cultures. Emanuel has said he intends to run "the same playbook" with WWE that Endeavor did with UFC, whose revenue surged 20% from 2021 to 2022. "We have a track record of success with media rights," Emanuel said last month. "WWE has similar scale to UFC. In the universe of assets at this scale, the opportunity is rare and finite."