Amazon Could Buy WWE According to New Analyst Prediction

It would be quite stunning if WWE was ever controlled by anyone other than the McMahon family, but [...]

It would be quite stunning if WWE was ever controlled by anyone other than the McMahon family, but what about a partnership? And what if that partnership and eventual purchase of the company came from one of the biggest companies in the world? That's the idea behind a prediction by Needham analyst Laura Martin, who predicts that Amazon could at first team-up with WWE in their quest for dominance in the streaming battle and then eventually purchase the company outright when the McMahons are ready to walk away from the company, namely Vince McMahon, who is currently 74 but is still running most aspects of the company (via CNBC).

The prediction says that Jeff Bezos' Amazon behemoth could buy the streaming rights to WWE's content and then later the whole company, and it is a deal that would be beneficial for both companies.

"We believe that such a licensing deal would put AMZN in the best spot to purchase all of WWE, whenever the family is ready to exit," Martin said. "Vince McMahon is currently 74 years old, going on 50."

WWE's strength comes in the fact that it has three brands within it that all have built-in audiences and all of them cater to a slightly different crowd, and that's something that's would be very hard to pass up, especially for Amazon, who is always looking to widen its footprint in programming to help expand its brand and the pull of Amazon Prime.

"WWE's live programming is highly differentiated and its Raw, Smackdown and NXT brands are worth more than being any one of 500 series that have no builtin audience or brand," Martin said.

This prediction is only bolstered by a recent earnings call where McMahon said there was interest in their wrestling programming rights from major streaming services. While WWE has its own streaming network (the WWE Network), if the deal was right and it managed to expand on what WWE already offers, we imagine McMahon would at least consider any offers that come his way.

It also doesn't hurt that at the moment WWE's stock is on the downswing, so if Amazon was to make an offer of some sort, now would be the time to do it as opposed to previously when WWE's stock was on the rise.

It is certainly an interesting thought, and Amazon is one of the companies that wouldn't mind shelling out some big money initially to get the ball rolling for a future profit. If Amazon did purchase the rights to WWE content, it remains to be seen what would happen with WWE Network, as it currently offers original shows and access to WWE's pay-per-views. It used to also offer NXT exclusively, but those rights have since gone to USA Network, who also airs Monday Night Raw. Friday Night SmackDown currently airs on FOX.

What do you think of the possible deal? Let us know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MattAguilarCB for all things WWE!

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