Anthem Sports CEO Believes WWE Will Be Taken To New Level If Strategic Media Company Buys It
WWE is reportedly exploring options regarding the sale of the company and has taken action in engaging with outside advisors to help with negotiations for upcoming media rights deals. Vince McMahon returned to the board of directors on January 6, claiming he needed to help lead the media rights negotiations, and a potential sale of the company has been heavily covered by various media outlets.
Anthem Sports has a majority stake in IMPACT Wrestling and AXS TV, which is the network home of IMPACT.
Appearing on Bloomberg, Anthem Sports founder Leonard Asper commented on a potential WWE sale.
“We’re watching it closely. It’s a hot area right now and I’m glad we’re in it. It is the example of a multi-headed beast and in a great way. They sell their content to third parties, they have their own direct to consumer app, they have their own free distribution of content. It’s one where the talent drives a lot of what the success ratio is. All Elite Wrestling came along and bought a bunch of wrestlers from WWE. There is a little bit of talent war going on there. I think whoever buys WWE, they will probably take it to a new level, especially if they are a strategic media company. Amazon, Disney, they have a whole ecosystem of how to build revenue from content. If private equity guys want to buy it, it’s going to get cost cuts and that usual thing, they’ll leverage up and do what they do. If a strategic media company buys it, I’d back that strategic media company because that’s a great franchise,” he said.
Comcast, Fox, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and more have been listed as potential suitors to purchase WWE.
WWE has stated they do not intend to comment further until the process has concluded or the Company has otherwise determined that further disclosure is appropriate or required.
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