Dave Meltzer noted earlier this week that the option of WWE selling the rights of their major PPVs to another streaming service such as ESPN is not looking likely despite Vince McMahon having talks with ESPN to put those shows on ESPN+.
The talks are “far apart on money” because McMahon wants a higher number than what UFC received from ESPN. The exact number wasn’t given.
Then, news broke that McMahon entered into a variable prepaid forward contract to pledge approximately 3.5 million shares of his Class B common stock. This was done to provide WWE liquidity.
In an update, analyst Alan Gould of Loop Capital stated that the announcement indicates that a deal for WWE to sell their pay-per-views to a large streaming company is not happening.
“We do not believe Mr. McMahon would be entering a prepaid forward contract on 15% of his shares, about 3.5 million of them, in front of such an announcement,” Gould stated, via Deadline.
