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Vince McMahon sold 3.2 million shares of WWE stock in order to raise $270 million in capital for his new company Alpha Entertainment, which will be re-launching the XFL football league in 2020.
WWE stock dropped 1% in after-hours trading as a result of McMahon's stock sale, according to SeekingAlpha.com.
WWE's SEC filing on the sale featured the following statement:
On March 27, 2019, Vincent K. McMahon (“Mr. McMahon”), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company”), sold 3,204,427 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock in a block trade made in accordance with the provisions of Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Mr. McMahon executed the sale primarily to fund a separate entity from the Company, Alpha Entertainment LLC “Alpha”), which Mr. McMahon established to explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including launching a professional football league under the name “XFL”. Alpha has announced that this launch will occur in early 2020. Mr. McMahon has informed the Company that he has no current plan to sell additional shares of the Company’s stock and that he intends to continue in his capacity as the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the foreseeable future.
The shares sold by Mr. McMahon represent approximately 4.1% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. After the sale, Mr. McMahon beneficially owns 28,682,948 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, which represents approximately 80.1% of the Company’s total voting power and approximately 36.8% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock.
As PWInsider.com noted several days ago, there has been discussion of Alpha Entertainment being housed inside the new WWE Global Headquarters in Stamford, CT. Whether that comes to pass remains to be seen.
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