Vince McMahon is fast selling shares of his company World Wrestling Entertainment in order to raise funds for relaunching XFL in 2020 which has long been his dream project.
"As per official filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (h/t PW Insider's Mike Johnson), McMahon sold 3,204,427 shares of his stock in the wrestling promotion worth approximately $270 million," reads a report on Bleacher Report.
"The shares sold by Mr. McMahon represent approximately 4.1 percent of the Company's total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. After the sale, Mr. McMahon beneficially owns 28,682,94 shares of the Company's Class B common stock, which represents approximately 80.1 percent of the Company's total voting power and approximately 36.8 percent of the Company's total outstanding shares of common stock."
The WWE chairman has been selling his WWE shares for the last two years but his recent financial activity is the largest sale amount in terms of dollars. In December 2017, he sold 3.34 million shares of his stock worth around $100 million. McMahon also sold off 306,000 shares to net more than $23 million in November last year.
As per a June 2017 report on ESPN.com, McMahon is expecting to spend around $500 million in the first three seasons of the XFL. The whopping amount is not likely to take a huge financial toll on the 73-year-old whose net worth according to Forbes stands at an astounding $3.3 billion.
The original run of the XFL, which was a professional American football league, lasted only one season in 2001 and was a massive financial disaster costing McMahon and NBC a reported $70 million. The rebooted XFL will return in February 2020 with Oliver Luck serving as league commissioner.
Meanwhile, on the WWE front, McMahon is preparing to host its grandest annual show called WrestleMania. The event happens in the first week of April and WWE leaves no stones unturned in making it the pinnacle of sports entertainment. It has already been rumoured that former WWE stars Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan will make guest appearances on the show.
This edition of WrestleMania will be path-breaking for WWE as for the first time in history, the women will main event the show. In what will be a deserving culmination of a long-drawn storyline, Ronda Rousey will face Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch in a triple threat match.
In terms of other dream matches for the event, Hollywood star Batista will face former evolution member Triple H in a match where the latter is putting his career at stake. John Cena will also be wrestling at the show but his opponent is yet to be decided. It was also announced that Olympic gold medallist Kurt Angle will also be wrestling his final match at WrestleMania before drawing the curtains on a glorious wrestling career.
This iteration of WrestleMania will be its 35th edition and it will be held on April 7 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
