Vince McMahon’s TKO stock fire sale continued this week as he unloaded another $250 million worth of shares. The disgraced WWE founder—who is fighting a sexual assault lawsuit in federal court—has now sold close to $2 billion worth of stock since the 2023 megamerger uniting UFC and WWE.
McMahon sold more than 1.57 million shares of TKO stock to Silver Lake-backed parent Endeavor for $158.32 per share, or a total of about $250 million, according to a June 3 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. McMahon has been shedding TKO stock regularly over the past two years, with almost $2 billion in stock sold since November 2023, when he offloaded 8.4 million shares for more than $700 million. Including shares he registered for sale last year but hasn’t necessarily sold yet, McMahon has put more than $2 billion worth of TKO shares up for sale since the 2023 deal.
TKO’s most recent 10-K filing with the SEC said that, as of the end of December, McMahon held about 8.02 million shares of TKO, equivalent to a 9.8% interest, and 4.1% voting power in the company. That has now been further diluted through the new share sale.
McMahon—who recently launched a new sports, media, and entertainment-focused investment firm called 14th & I—has had a turbulent last few years. In 2022, he briefly stepped down from his post leading WWE amid an investigation, reportedly by law firm Simpson Thacher, into claims he paid $3 million in “hush” money to a paralegal who he’d allegedly had an affair with. By January 2023, he was back as executive chairman of the WWE board as the company explored a potential sale.
But in January 2024, he had resigned once more, after being sued in Connecticut federal court by former WWE employee Janel Grant, who made bombshell claims including that he pressured her into sex in exchange for a job, showed others explicit photos and videos of her, and then pushed her out of the business with hush money payments while forcing her to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
That case remains ongoing, and McMahon recently took a significant hit when one of his longtime consiglieres—John Laurinaitis, who was also named in Grant’s suit—flipped in order to get the claims against him dropped.
That isn’t the only legal headache for McMahon. He and his wife, Linda McMahon—who is the Secretary of Education under President Donald Trump—were named in a lawsuit last year from five former “Ring Boys,” who allege they “knowingly allowed” a ringside announcer/ring crew chief to sexually abuse them decades ago.
Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE was announced in April 2023. It saw UFC parent Endeavor Group buy WWE and combine the two to form a new company valued at $21.4 billion.
TKO declined to comment, and representatives for McMahon and WWE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
