WWE for sale - Who Will Buy It? Megathread

We won’t know until we see it in action, but the Saudis will likely pump a tonne of money into production value and contracts, and encourage shows to take place over there more often. Possibly Vince back in charge of creative as a term of the sale.

Yeap.

Listen, this is what Sportswashing is all about. They won't be buying WWE to amuse themselves. They'll be doing it to entertain Western audiences. They'll maintain the values, by and large, of the Western audience, so that said audience can then think "Oh, maybe they aren't that bad? Maybe the Saudis are actually pretty chill? They let women wrestle, and look at how cool Roman's new 1bn dollar entrance is!"

They won't sweep in and start insisting women cover themselves head to toe in front of American audiences. And WWE's LGBT record is already **** anyway, so not much going to change there. But the primary aim of this will be for people to think well of the Saudi regime. That won't happen if they instil their values harshly on the product.

[Sean Ross Sapp] There have been multiple wrestlers who have told me they'd leave WWE if the company ends up being Saudi Arabia-led. I'll have more on FightfulSelect.com today, as well as List & Ya Boy at 3 PM EST.

[Helwani] Contrary to reports stating otherwise last night, there is no deal in place at this precise moment for WWE to be sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund or any entity, sources say. The organization is still exploring all options, I’m told. Developing.

[Brandon Thurston] "I asked someone at WWE, who would know, who said the story that took hold of Twitter last night, about WWE and Saudi Arabia being near a deal to take the company private, is untrue".

[Jon Alba] confirms Ariel Helwani's news: "Exactly the same as what I’ve been told".

So, it appears someone jumped the gun. But I'm going to wager this is a case of "the initial agreements have been made" rather than "it's 100% done"; that, for example, Vince has said he's going to sell to the Saudis, but it's not actually finalized yet.

I wonder if the "leaks" were a testing of the waters, or even someone like Steph dropping the bomb as she walked out.

• Jon Alba- Well, finally got something much more firm. A high-ranking #WWE source with knowledge of the situation tells me reports of a sale or agreement to sell at this moment are “completely false." Still have not been able to get official comment from WWE on the record at this moment in time, but have inquired through multiple channels.”

Updated the thread title to be a bit mor general.

WON notes from today.

From this week's observer:

-Meltzer notes that both CNBC and Barron's reported on Shad Khan's possible interest in buying WWE. CNBC added its possible that he'd be one of the few ok with keeping Vince McMahon. A Khan purchase would require additional investors as part of a group.

-the Khan's and the Saudis are the only known parties who would take WWE private

-wall street analysts forecast a sale price of 7.4 to 8.2 billion, with WWE hoping for 8.5. Meltzer added that the acquisitions market has cooled off recently

-Nick Khan is quoted as saying it would be difficult to sell to one media company while having deals with another. for instance, they couldnt sell to netflix but still have deals with NBC/USA and Fox. based on this, a sale would need to be done before the next media rights deals.

-a Saudi purchase would bring a lot of PR heat, but Meltzer's points to the Saudis having bought Newcastle United and things being mostly business as usual since the purchase.

-Dave doesn't see antitrust issues stopping a purchase if the Khan's are involved based on lack of action at stopping WWE's purchase of WCW, UFC's buying up Strikeforce

-the lawsuit against WWE filed in Delaware claiming breach of fiduciary duty due to Vince coming back is unlikely to go anywhere unless the stock price tanks.

-apparently Stephanie and Vince don't work well together, Nick Khan has been acting as a go-between to keep things running smoothly between them. Khan also acts as go-between for Vince and Triple H.