UFC making $$$ propelling WME to go all in and go public

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kneeblock

Drapetomaniac
Apr 18, 2015
12,435
23,026

Endeavor has entered into an agreement to obtain 100 percent controlling interest over the UFC.

The deal was revealed as part of a 300-page prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday as Endeavor Group Holdings officially moves towards taking the company public.

Here’s the disclosure as part of Endeavor’s massive prospectus ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) that will likely take place later this year.

“On February 16, 2021, Endeavor Operating Company entered into a Transaction Agreement with the Other UFC Holders and certain of their affiliates pursuant to which Endeavor Operating Company will directly or indirectly acquire equity interests in UFC Parent (including warrants of UFC Parent or common equity received by warrant holders from the exercise of warrants of UFC Parent) from the Other UFC Holders (or their affiliates) resulting in Endeavor Operating Company directly or indirectly owning 100% of the equity interests of UFC Parent (the “UFC Buyout”).

“We currently own 50.1% of UFC Parent’s common equity and have consolidated UFC Parent’s financial results from the date of the UFC acquisition in 2016.”

As part of the transactional buyout, some of the previous owners of the UFC stock will receive stock in Endeavor Group Holdings, which is the name of the conglomerate that will be going public. The prospectus also states that Endeavor will raise $1.7 billion to buy out the remainder of the UFC. But if the company doesn’t go public, the previous ownership structure will remain.

When Endeavor closed a deal to obtain a controlling interest in the UFC back in 2016 for just over $4 billion, the company partnered with several private equity firms to help raise the cash for the sale. Those private equity companies, including Silver Lake Partners, ended up owning around 40 percent of the UFC as a result.

This new buyout will now give Endeavor 100 percent controlling interest over the UFC, which helps to sweeten the pot as the company prepares to go public.

As part of the prospectus filed on Wednesday, Endeavor also reported $3.478 billion in revenue along with net income losses of $625 million in 2020, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic wiping out a large portion of their businesses. The UFC was a huge benefactor in helping Endeavor earn profits last year after the MMA promotion put on events ahead of any other major sport in the United States, making it a very successful 2020 for the company overall.
 

DarthBader

Strikeforce lives baby!
Feb 6, 2021
1,017
1,036
I wrote about this before on the UG, last time they went public (last 2 times) the company basically completely failed in tempting potential investors, now though with Elon Musk on the board of directors it just changes the whole game.

To break it further down: Elon has LOTS of international contacts in the technology investment world (which have become new money in the west), the crucial part will be if he's able to make some of those invest in Endeavour, which doesn't just consist of UFC if anybody wonders, they are a agent firm, with specialization in NBA, NFL contracts after what I understood, but one of the major downsides is their huge debt and their general revenue relating to this debt, which undoubtedly has given investors cold hands, the company also has a certain era of wokeness surrounding it, which has been mirrowed in their latest strategies for the UFC.

- If WME/Endeavour wants to raise their profile regarding going public they need to raise their brand value for the UFC, they can't just do the WWE model, which is big TV contracts without any actual product/stars.

- Stop hiring the cheapest guys possible to promote your brand name (in this case the UFC), get more experienced commentators, experts and hold on to those with the greatest potential looking forward, which can also boost your production values (having Joe Rogan sit out except for the big events is a huge mistake imo).

- Start working with the other promotions, you might think this sounds retarded when your already close at monopolizing the business, but Pride did it back in the day and it only helped raise their profile, every fan out there wants to see the promotion vs promotion cards.

- The UFC needs to "know their role" and not try to mainstream the product. The UFC isn't the NFL or NBA, it will never be that, go back to what made the product successful when it was at it's grassroots stage, do more TUF shows, those raise interest in your product and will help potential investors in "buying in", it might cost more than it gives, but it's always been an essential key part of the products brand identity, that cannot simply be erased.

Imagine this, a wild idea I know: All the Bellator champions, ONE FC champions and PFL champs + UFC's fighting in 3-4 big shows (the key here is NOT spreading the product thin. A giant tournament with shows airing on each respective brands networks, which is neccesary for anything to be done and sadly also what makes it IMPOSSIBLE, each network will simply state what does it give to our brand value for us to air our champions for free basically on other networks? It will just futher promote their network/brand, aka a dick measuring contest. But on the hand Bellator and Rizin did get it done, so there is certainly hope for the future although it will seem next to impossible to get such a deal done.
 

Qat

QoQ
Nov 3, 2015
16,385
22,624
I wrote about this before on the UG, last time they went public (last 2 times) the company basically completely failed in tempting potential investors, now though with Elon Musk on the board of directors it just changes the whole game.

To break it further down: Elon has LOTS of international contacts in the technology investment world (which have become new money in the west), the crucial part will be if he's able to make some of those invest in Endeavour, which doesn't just consist of UFC if anybody wonders, they are a agent firm, with specialization in NBA, NFL contracts after what I understood, but one of the major downsides is their huge debt and their general revenue relating to this debt, which undoubtedly has given investors cold hands, the company also has a certain era of wokeness surrounding it, which has been mirrowed in their latest strategies for the UFC.

- If WME/Endeavour wants to raise their profile regarding going public they need to raise their brand value for the UFC, they can't just do the WWE model, which is big TV contracts without any actual product/stars.

- Stop hiring the cheapest guys possible to promote your brand name (in this case the UFC), get more experienced commentators, experts and hold on to those with the greatest potential looking forward, which can also boost your production values (having Joe Rogan sit out except for the big events is a huge mistake imo).

- Start working with the other promotions, you might think this sounds retarded when your already close at monopolizing the business, but Pride did it back in the day and it only helped raise their profile, every fan out there wants to see the promotion vs promotion cards.

- The UFC needs to "know their role" and not try to mainstream the product. The UFC isn't the NFL or NBA, it will never be that, go back to what made the product successful when it was at it's grassroots stage, do more TUF shows, those raise interest in your product and will help potential investors in "buying in", it might cost more than it gives, but it's always been an essential key part of the products brand identity, that cannot simply be erased.

Imagine this, a wild idea I know: All the Bellator champions, ONE FC champions and PFL champs + UFC's fighting in 3-4 big shows (the key here is NOT spreading the product thin. A giant tournament with shows airing on each respective brands networks, which is neccesary for anything to be done and sadly also what makes it IMPOSSIBLE, each network will simply state what does it give to our brand value for us to air our champions for free basically on other networks? It will just futher promote their network/brand, aka a dick measuring contest. But on the hand Bellator and Rizin did get it done, so there is certainly hope for the future although it will seem next to impossible to get such a deal done.
The problem especially with frequent cross-promo fights is that it will be good for the fighters who can simply chose to stay out of the UFC, but still be on the giant cards potentially.

The UFC doesn't want that.