By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Vince McMahon and Nick Khan suffered a major setback in the shareholder lawsuit over the Endeavor and WWE merger that led to the formation of TKO. Judge J. Travis Laster, Vice Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, found that McMahon and Khan destroyed evidence. Lester determined that McMahon, Khan, Paul Levesque, Stephanie McMahon, and former WWE COO Brad Blum used the Signal app’s auto-delete feature, which deleted messages they were legally obligated to save.
As such, the judge ruled that five potentially damaging facts will be considered presumptively true when the civil case goes to trial on June 8. Brandon Thurston of Post Wrestling listed the facts as follows:
-Emanuel’s promise to provide Vince with a continued role at any post-merger company after a transaction influenced Vince’s decision-making with respect to the merger.
-Emanuel’s offer of indemnification and other legal support related to pending federal investigations of Vince’s alleged misconduct influenced Vince’s decision-making with respect to the merger.
-Vince decided to pursue a transaction with Endeavor in 2022, before the Company initiated the strategic review process.
-Khan communicated with Emanuel between August and December 2022 to facilitate a transaction between WWE and Endeavor.
-Vince and Khan worked with [advisement firm] Raine to steer the process toward a deal with Endeavor and away from other potential bidders.
Powell’s POV: The burden is now on McMahon and Khan to disprove those facts. Vince McMahon, Nick Khan, Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro, and Paul Levesque are all scheduled to testify in the trial. The plaintiffs allege that McMahon was more concerned with his standing in the company than securing the best deal for shareholders when he sold WWE to Endeavor in 2023. Former WWE executives George Barrios and Michelle Wilson are also defendants in the case. With this being a civil case, the defendants are not facing any criminal charges.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
No SEC charges?
I hope this case clears WWE of bad apples, including and especially Ari Emmanuel.
Something really stinks here and I don’t like it – not as a shareholder but as a WWE fan. Looking at it from a distance it looks like all the high ticket prices and the cutbacks in house shows (about to go into reverse) may have been to sate said shareholders and up their dividends.
Naturally I speak on this without knowing the full details, but as the old saying goes; there’s something rotten in Denmark.