AEW’s Tony Khan hosted a media conference call on Tuesday and was asked a variety of questions regarding the young company’s future. That included AEW’s next media rights deal, and a question was posed whether or not Warner Bros. Discovery might buy a stake in the company’s ownership in conjunction with its next TV contract. Having a media company either partially or completely own a pro wrestling promotion has happened a handful of times in the past, but AEW has thus far been exclusively owned by Tony and his father, Shahid Khan.ย
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“It’s something we’ve talked about a lot,” Khan said (h/t Fightful). “There has been a lot of conversations about that. It’s always been something I’ve been open to. Between Warner Bros. Discovery and myself, a lot of the financial and structural details of our partnership, we’ve been able to keep between us, but there are things that have always said to be true, that I own 100% of the voting stock of this company and that I have 100% of the decision making power in the company. I’ve been open to taking on additional partnerships or things of that nature. We have a really great deal, right now, with Warner Brothers Discovery, and I would love to have an even longer agreement. As for them and their stake in the business, that is something that would be between us, but I would also be open to that, to Warner Brothers in a future deal, having a piece or a bigger piece, potentially, but I would always want to maintain 100% voting control, as I have now, and want to maintain the majority of stock, which I have now.
“These are things that are important to me, but in a future deal, these are things I would be open to,” he continued. “There is nothing bad about it. We’ve seen in pro wrestling this year a change of control. I have no interest in a change of control. Would I be interested in taking on additional investment? Yeah, potentially. It would have to be at the right numbers and it would have to make sense for us based on how much our business has grown this year. As for a change or control or giving up voting stock, no, I have no interest in that.”
Do you think Warner Bros. Discovery might wind up owning at least a portion of AEW? Could this be what Khan meant by his company entering a “new era?” Tell us your predictions in the comments!
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