Court Filing Reveals Details Of WWE-UFC Merger Settlement

Court documents have officially been submitted in the lawsuit stemming from WWE’s 2023 merger with UFC under TKO Group Holdings.

Brandon Thurston of POST Wrestling reports that the settlement stipulation confirms the defendants are required to pay a total of $147.5 million.

The defendants in the case are Vince McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque, George Barrios and Michelle Wilson.

TKO previously disclosed in its second-quarter financial report that WWE’s portion of the overall settlement amounted to $105 million.

The settlement class consists of shareholders who held WWE stock as of September 12, 2023. Defendants who owned WWE shares at the time are excluded from benefiting from the settlement.

According to POST Wrestling, plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel Block & Leviton LLP and Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP will seek attorneys’ fees of up to 33 percent of the $147.5 million settlement fund. That would amount to approximately $48.7 million.

After attorneys’ fees, administrative expenses and taxes are deducted, the remaining net settlement fund — likely around $100 million — will be distributed among eligible shareholders.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2023 and alleged that McMahon predetermined WWE’s transaction with Endeavor in an effort to ensure he would retain a role with the company amid the sexual misconduct scandal surrounding him, rather than conducting a process designed to maximize value for WWE shareholders.

WWE and UFC officially merged under TKO Group Holdings in September 2023.