WWE continues to soldier on without Vince McMahon. This past January, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit accusing McMahon of sexual abuse and sex trafficking, leading McMahon to resign from his position as Executive Chairman of TKO, WWE’s parent company. McMahon has stated he plans to fight what he calls “a vindictive distortion of the truth.” McMahon’s WWE departure echoes resemblance to his first exit in Summer 2022, as back then he retired from his corporate positions in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. That retirement would turn out to be a sabbatical, as McMahon used his shareholding power to reinstate himself to the WWE Board of Directors just six months later. Getting back to the company this time around wouldn’t be as easy, as today’s WWE is not under McMahon ownership.
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WWE Continues to Distance From Vince McMahon
The Vince McMahon era of WWE is officially in the rear view.
Speaking on TKO’s fourth quarter earnings call, TKO President Mark Shapiro affirmed that WWE is “not in conversations with” the former Executive Chairman.
“We don’t know his motives, his plans or his timeline,” Shapiro said of McMahon. “He doesn’t work for the company, doesn’t come into the office and he’s not coming back to the company. And that’s where we sit.”
Beyond that, Shapiro noted that TKO “did not participate in the recent sale of Vince McMahon’s load that he dropped off,” confirming that McMahon’s decision to sell $412 million in TKO stock was his choice and not a pressuring by the company. Following the sale, McMahon has 15 million shares remaining, nearly half of his initial 28 million shares. His current shares amount to 8.5 percent of all shares within the company. It has been speculated that McMahon will continue selling his TKO stock in chunks over the next couple of months, as selling it all at once would be detrimental to the stock price.
WWE has made efforts to scrub McMahon from its product, censoring him from the WWE 2K24 video game as well as removing his limited merchandise from stores.
There have been no substantial updates on the future of Janel Grant’s lawsuit following it’s original filing back in January. It remains unclear as to how McMahon will respond from a legal standpoint or if more information from Grant’s side will be made public.
