Endeavor has acquired the WWE, but the road to a deal was not a smooth one. In fact, the deal was not finalized until Saturday, the first night of Wrestlemania 39. The company wasn’t just negotiating the right deal, they also faced some competition in the bidding process.
Dylan Byers of Puck writes that Liberty Media was serious about buying WWE. It could have been a perfect fit too.
Liberty is no stranger to the sports or media spaces. It owns the Atlanta Braves, SiriusXM and Formula 1 Racing. It also briefly owned a major stake in DirecTV and several television networks.
Formula 1 in particular could have been an ideal model for WWE to follow under Liberty Media. Nick Khan said in the days after the Endeavor deal that the company’s priority will be making the most of the assets WWE already owns. That idea would lend itself perfectly to something like F1: Drive to Survive on Netflix, which has helped stir a growing passion for Formual 1 in the US.
WWE had been meeting with Endeavor since the middle of March. The wrestling giant will now be combined with UFC to form a publicly traded company valued at more than $21 billion.
