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Post by Feargus McReddit on Nov 2, 2023 11:10:37 GMT -5
There's some specific context to the Vince quote and to the exact situation around it. Saudi Arabia made a demand a few years ago that's fast approaching its deadline that any company that wants to keep a government contract with the Saudis needs to move their regional operations to Riyadh. It's a demand that targets companies exactly like WWE, whose Middle East operations right now is centered in Dubai. It's all higher-up business politicvs and trying to compete with the UAE, and a western company like WWE that has a lucrative government contract is going to have the eyes on them for that sort of thing. Reaffirming that loyalty in advance of their own upcoming Saudi show is just a step in that process. Now, if the Emiratis buy out their parent company then that is going to change everything ever, obviously. The quote Ringsidenews is using is real, but it's from a red carpet interview with MMAJunkie where Vince is puffing up the thing the nation's government is paying him to puff up. It's not a statement of true intent. The other thing to point out is that the quote came before the Bloomberg story came out and we don’t have much idea how much he or even anyone else not from Silver Lake knew about a potential deal for a purchase of shares. Again, it’ll be interesting if and when a bid gets placed because if management even considers that bid, it’ll say a lot about where the company has been since the purchase but also it’ll say something about the priorities of what you mentioned above.
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Post by Final Countdown Jones on Nov 2, 2023 11:14:42 GMT -5
There's some specific context to the Vince quote and to the exact situation around it. Saudi Arabia made a demand a few years ago that's fast approaching its deadline that any company that wants to keep a government contract with the Saudis needs to move their regional operations to Riyadh. It's a demand that targets companies exactly like WWE, whose Middle East operations right now is centered in Dubai. It's all higher-up business politicvs and trying to compete with the UAE, and a western company like WWE that has a lucrative government contract is going to have the eyes on them for that sort of thing. Reaffirming that loyalty in advance of their own upcoming Saudi show is just a step in that process. Now, if the Emiratis buy out their parent company then that is going to change everything ever, obviously. The quote Ringsidenews is using is real, but it's from a red carpet interview with MMAJunkie where Vince is puffing up the thing the nation's government is paying him to puff up. It's not a statement of true intent. The other thing to point out is that the quote came before the Bloomberg story came out and we don’t have much idea how much he or even anyone else not from Silver Lake knew about a potential deal for a purchase of shares. Again, it’ll be interesting if and when a bid gets placed because if management even considers that bid, it’ll say a lot about where the company has been since the purchase but also it’ll say something about the priorities of what you mentioned above. Oh yeah no for sure. And even if Vince knew firsthand in that moment that Emirati interest in Endeavor could loom on the horizon and that the Saudi deal could go the way of all the war crime victims WWE ignores in accepting money to make tourism ads for them, he's still going to fluff it up when in the country and still in business terms with them now. Hell, behind the scenes, maybe this was even brought up during Vince's time in the country because the January 1st deadline to move operations is definitely a present factor, I'm sure he had some kind of a meeting with them while he was there mere days out from Crown Jewel. But those talks aren't going to show in a public-facing red carpet interview with MMAJunkie. I've seen people who knew their company was going to go in a completely different direction openly shilling plans that were never truly on the table to the public because that's just how it goes. But these decisions are no longer even Vince's to make.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Nov 2, 2023 11:58:19 GMT -5
It's all going to be super interesting for sure. Like, I don't think anything's in trouble but if this is the way to take the company private, it'll be super interesting how that affects the standing of Endeavor as a company and what that'll mean across all the plates it has to keep spinning. But then another plan might come up and turn things another way, who even knows anymore? We're getting close to AOL Time Warner territory with all of this, it feels like.
It'll certainly make the show in front of the New York Stock Exchange super funny if it does.
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Post by The Thread Barbi on Nov 2, 2023 18:24:04 GMT -5
That was Vince's plan all along! Sink the ship, buy the wreck! It worked in his plan to buy WCW. Does that mean Vince will send his sleeper agents Bret Hart and Vince Russo to Abu Dhabi?
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Post by Banjo Is Broken on Nov 3, 2023 1:51:19 GMT -5
Logically Mandy Rose must have enough money by now to buy Endeavor so don't be surprised if we eventually hear that Shawn Michaels has been demoted to the General Manager of Level Up.
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Post by "Trickster Dogg" James Jesse on Nov 3, 2023 3:59:39 GMT -5
Just…use a bit of common sense and maybe just go with the possibility that Vince was doing some bog-standard PR shit. Truth is simply stranger than fiction. Time and time again in recent memory have the rich and powerful proven they are the furthest things from rational, from having common sense. If Vince McMahon was actually shooting and not working, why would we act so surprised if what he said actually came to pass? When a just a couple of years ago the idea of WWE being sold to some kind of conglomerate seemed more like a pipe dream than an inevitability. Though it was the initial deal with Saudi Arabia that seems, in retrospect, to have been the crack in the door to be blown wide open where WWE is today.
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Post by HIM on Nov 7, 2023 16:51:52 GMT -5
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Nov 7, 2023 17:22:19 GMT -5
I’ll put my neck out and say if Vince is still a part of TKO by the Q2 earnings report, I’ll be shocked.
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Post by WatchersDigitalNetwork on Nov 7, 2023 22:09:48 GMT -5
So endeavor acquired WWE, and could end up sold to even bigger media company overseas. Then list Vince as a problem, theoretically forcing him out of the company thereby leaving him unable to prevent another sale?
But, surely another sale would generate more income to Vince as well. So is he really against this? Or was this part of the discussion all along?
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Perd
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Post by Perd on Nov 7, 2023 23:34:00 GMT -5
Maybe Vince's dislike of selling was a premonition.
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Chiral
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Post by Chiral on Nov 7, 2023 23:37:23 GMT -5
While he's still gonna walk away with a stupid amount of money, there is something really funny about Vince rushing to sell WWE probably with the intent of pushing his way to run all of creative again (after a few months of reportedly being super super bored not having anything to do) only for the people he sold the company to want him out of there ASAP.
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Post by The Summer of Muskrat XVII on Nov 8, 2023 0:29:14 GMT -5
So endeavor acquired WWE, and could end up sold to even bigger media company overseas. Then list Vince as a problem, theoretically forcing him out of the company thereby leaving him unable to prevent another sale? But, surely another sale would generate more income to Vince as well. So is he really against this? Or was this part of the discussion all along? Vince doesn’t have the power to block a sale post merger anyways. Vince owns about 10% of the stock of TKO compared to Endevour owning 51%. Vince has no realistic avenue to victory if he were to get into a power struggle with Ari, shy of finding someone with a spare 11 figures lying around to buy Endevour and put Vince back in charge of WWE.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Nov 8, 2023 1:08:55 GMT -5
So endeavor acquired WWE, and could end up sold to even bigger media company overseas. Then list Vince as a problem, theoretically forcing him out of the company thereby leaving him unable to prevent another sale? But, surely another sale would generate more income to Vince as well. So is he really against this? Or was this part of the discussion all along? Vince doesn’t have the power to block a sale post merger anyways. Vince owns about 10% of the stock of TKO compared to Endevour owning 51%. Vince has no realistic avenue to victory if he were to get into a power struggle with Ari, shy of finding someone with a spare 11 figures lying around to buy Endevour and put Vince back in charge of WWE. Honestly, this saga deserves Vince going to another group who also has shares in Endeavor and that group gets funding from an arm of the Saudi government to compete with the funding Silver Lake are getting from UAE.
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Post by Final Countdown Jones on Nov 8, 2023 1:17:51 GMT -5
So endeavor acquired WWE, and could end up sold to even bigger media company overseas. Then list Vince as a problem, theoretically forcing him out of the company thereby leaving him unable to prevent another sale? But, surely another sale would generate more income to Vince as well. So is he really against this? Or was this part of the discussion all along? They're not listing him as a 'problem 'in any sort of 'YEAH WOW MAN WE REALLY GOTTA FIX THIS' capacity. The risk factors section of an SEC filing is a way to communicate to investors all of the issues and risks your company can face so that nothing can really 'sneak up' on investors who claim there was no warning that this was on the table. Vince McMahon being in a major position in the company while under federal investigation and with a history of sexual harassment allegations and payouts poses a risk, so the company is warning people of it. It's not to say that they like this fact or want Vince to stick around, but this notice isn't the fast track to Vince being deposed, it's to cover their asses so if the federal investigation takes any further steps, TKO has already warned people about it so if shareholders try to cry foul in court about it, there's less case to be had there.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Nov 8, 2023 6:45:06 GMT -5
So endeavor acquired WWE, and could end up sold to even bigger media company overseas. Then list Vince as a problem, theoretically forcing him out of the company thereby leaving him unable to prevent another sale? But, surely another sale would generate more income to Vince as well. So is he really against this? Or was this part of the discussion all along? They're not listing him as a 'problem 'in any sort of 'YEAH WOW MAN WE REALLY GOTTA FIX THIS' capacity. The risk factors section of an SEC filing is a way to communicate to investors all of the issues and risks your company can face so that nothing can really 'sneak up' on investors who claim there was no warning that this was on the table. Vince McMahon being in a major position in the company while under federal investigation and with a history of sexual harassment allegations and payouts poses a risk, so the company is warning people of it. It's not to say that they like this fact or want Vince to stick around, but this notice isn't the fast track to Vince being deposed, it's to cover their asses so if the federal investigation takes any further steps, TKO has already warned people about it so if shareholders try to cry foul in court about it, there's less case to be had there. To put it simply, if Vince is brought in for questioning or anything else were to come out, this is them basically putting their hands up and saying “I mean, we did warn you guys about it” to at the least prevent further share drops or, as you said, if shareholders sue, their case is just not there. Considering how it’s all gone so far, it’s weird that looking at it all how much Vince has dropped in the problems Endeavor has going for it.
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Post by The Summer of Muskrat XVII on Nov 8, 2023 8:13:35 GMT -5
Vince doesn’t have the power to block a sale post merger anyways. Vince owns about 10% of the stock of TKO compared to Endevour owning 51%. Vince has no realistic avenue to victory if he were to get into a power struggle with Ari, shy of finding someone with a spare 11 figures lying around to buy Endevour and put Vince back in charge of WWE. Honestly, this saga deserves Vince going to another group who also has shares in Endeavor and that group gets funding from an arm of the Saudi government to compete with the funding Silver Lake are getting from UAE. That’s honestly why I put in that last bit. This story has been so f***ing crazy, with so many Succession twists and turns that it really wouldn’t surprise me if Vince was lining some crazy ass power play up
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salz4life
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Post by salz4life on Nov 8, 2023 9:09:20 GMT -5
If Vince turned around and bought Endeavor.... I'll be convinced that Lapsed Vince is real life.
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ChitownKnight
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Post by ChitownKnight on Nov 8, 2023 11:58:28 GMT -5
I feel like Endeavor might still want him in the short term. Dana White said that he helped get big money deals with the Saudis.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Nov 8, 2023 13:35:09 GMT -5
I feel like Endeavor might still want him in the short term. Dana White said that he helped get big money deals with the Saudis. Oh, I wasn’t implying he’d be going now but when his usefulness is done, he’ll either be asked to leave or they’ll find an excuse (and considering Vince’s history and the skeletons that came back to haunt him earlier this year, especially with past NDAs being legally ruled null and void someone could easily make themselves known to become that excuse).
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Post by HIM on Nov 9, 2023 16:43:41 GMT -5
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