WWE Reportedly Being Sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund

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PWMania.com Staff
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(Photo Credit: Stamford Advocate)

There are numerous rumors circulating about the possible sale of WWE. According to rumors, WWE is being sold to the Saudis and will revert to being a private company.

According to WWE sources, the company has been sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and will revert to private ownership, as noted by Steven Muehlhausen. Muehlhausen also mentioned that some are speculating on Vince McMahon’s return to creative after being named Chairman of the Board earlier this afternoon.

Additionally, Sean Ross Sapp and others have confirmed that the rumor is spreading. It’s worth noting that Sapp added that what he’s heard isn’t concrete evidence that the sale is taking place, aside from a few vague hinting messages from people outside of WWE, and that WWE contacts have claimed to be unaware of what the hints were about.

Sapp reiterated that the “hot rumor” has Saudi buyers interested in purchasing WWE, and that once the sale is completed, the company will go private.

Several others, including F4Wonline’s Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez, have indicated that major news will be announced soon. According to Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam, the sale has been completed and WWE will go private. It’s currently morning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, so if the sale happened that quickly, we could have an official announcement soon.

It should be noted that this is a rumor for the time being and should be treated as such until something official is announced or confirmed by sources. Again, the Saudis buying WWE is currently just a rumor.

Brent Brookhouse of CBSSports.com wrote, “I can’t even get a response from basically anyone in WWE. As I’ve said all night, this is all second and third hand stuff (that I’ve heard anyway) but everything is hitting the same notes. THAT SAID, it could all have the same (incorrect) starting point and have spread outward. The reality is, I don’t think ANYONE is going to have any sort of confirmation of ANYTHING tonight. It’s after 11 p.m. ET on a weeknight. You’re not getting an announcement or real confirmation of something like this at this time on a Tuesday.”

The potential WWE sale could be comparable to the LIV Golf organization, which is a professional golf tour funded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. The golf tour is viewed as the Kingdom’s attempt to improve its public image. The announcement of the Saudi’s involvement garnered a lot of negative press for the golfers involved, but there was a lot of big money involved, and as we all know, money talks.

As PWMania.com previously reported, Vince recently returned to the Board of Directors to lead a company sale, and JPMorgan was hired to lead those discussions. Stephanie McMahon resigned Tuesday evening, and Vince was unanimously re-elected as Chairman of the Board, with Nick Khan serving as the sole CEO.

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