Tony Khan’s Bid For WWE in 2023 | Pollock & Thurston
Tony Khan's bid for WWE
Base 10 is the owner of All Elite Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion that plainly would enjoy significant synergies with WWE.
Base 10, Tony Khan offered $76.83 [per share], so less than what the stock was trading for at the time by at least $5 as much as $10 or so.
This would be the most sensational of outcomes but also one that would probably be the worst outcome for just the health of the industry itself would be this outcome which was one where ultimately this would be one company overseeing essentially the entire market in the United States.
There's no information in WWE's regulatory filings or material related to the merger shareholder lawsuit to indicate Tony Khan or any Base 10 representative had access to that data room.
WWE/Endeavor merger
Nick Khan got a bonus related to completing this merger that was much higher than what their advisement firm that advised them on the amounts of the bonuses had recommended... I think a $6 million bonus at the closing of this merger. He ends up getting, I believe, something like a $15 million bonus.
WWE Saudi Arabia events
The next return [to Saudi Arabia] was supposed to be and is technically still internally listed for the end of June... Of course, the ongoing war in Iran is making any kind of events happening over in the Middle East become very tenuous.
Wrestling media integrity
It's not so much how you're going to interpret stories that are reported. It's what is the stories they're not reporting on? What are the stories that maybe in a prior incarnation they would have been on top of?
AEW business practices
AEW venue contracts [have] a confidentiality clause that says don't turn over those turnstile accounts... they have to help us claim that this is a trade secret.
WWE media partnerships
WWE and Front Office Sports will collaborate on the creative development and execution of storytelling projects surrounding marquee premium live events, including WrestleMania and international growth.
WrestleMania ticket sales
WrestleMania Saturday is going for $210 for the cheapest ticket on the secondary market, $202 for WrestleMania Sunday. So they are still about 11 to 12 percent off last year's pace for WrestleMania when it comes to tickets distributed.
