President Donald Trump purchased stock in TKO Group Holdings, the publicly traded company that owns WWE, on March 25, according to a financial disclosure filing reviewed by HuffPost. The purchase fell in a range of $15,001 to $50,000.
TKO has owned WWE since September 2023, when the promotion merged with the UFC under the Endeavor umbrella to form the combined company. WWE President Nick Khan and UFC CEO Dana White both retained their leadership roles after the merger, reporting up to TKO leadership.
The filing, submitted May 12, comes as Trump promotes a UFC event on the White House South Lawn scheduled for June 14, his 80th birthday. While that card sits on the UFC side of the business, both promotions now feed the same balance sheet that Trump bought into.
TKO reported first quarter 2026 revenue of $1.597 billion, a 26 percent year-over-year increase, with WWE and the UFC both posting gains. The company also returned roughly $1 billion to shareholders through buybacks, dividends, and other distributions in that period.
Trump has bought and sold stock in a range of companies he has publicly promoted. White House officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have previously said Trump does not personally choose which stocks to trade and that his financial advisers handle those decisions. TKO did not respond to a request for comment from HuffPost.
WWE Superstars will be part of the live programming at the UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest next month, the UFC officially confirmed in a news post on Sunday.
The announcement came as the UFC reopened its registration window for additional Fan Fest tickets, with the two-day free event set for Saturday and Sunday, June 13 and 14, at The Ellipse in Washington, D.C., just south of the White House grounds.
The official UFC promotional materials list “UFC Athlete and WWE Superstar Meet & Greets” among the headline attractions, alongside immersive fan experiences, live panels and Q&As, the UFC Freedom 250 ceremonial weigh-in, a Zac Brown Band concert fueled by Monster Energy, and the UFC Freedom 250 watch party. No specific WWE names have been disclosed yet.
It marks the most visible physical crossover yet between WWE and UFC under TKO Group Holdings, which has owned both promotions since the September 2023 merger. TKO has been openly pursuing cross-promotional activations, and sponsorship packages for Freedom 250 reportedly include WWE event integration ring signage, per The Independent.
The WWE-White House connection has been building independently of the UFC event. Last summer, WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H attended a Trump executive order signing for the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, performing his signature water spray entrance at the residence. President Trump himself is a WWE Hall of Famer.
The UFC card on Sunday, June 14 will be staged on the South Lawn of the White House and air on CBS and Paramount+. It is headlined by an undisputed lightweight title unification fight between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje, with Alex Pereira facing Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title in the co-main.
Visit our partner site MMA News for the latest on UFC Freedom 250 and the build towards the historic event.
One WWE Superstar who accepted a 50% pay cut during the company’s recent effort to renegotiate contracts is still making “huge money” according to Kevin Nash. The multi-time World Champion and nWo founding member shared insider details from his “moles” in WWE on the latest episode of his Kliq This podcast.
Nash admitted he was stunned after learning how much one wrestler was earning prior to agreeing to a reduced contract.
“I’ve got enough moles in the business where — I mean, I know the people that took 50 percent cuts,” Nash said on his Kliq This podcast.
“I know one of the guys, and when I found out what the person was making, and after I just picked myself up off the ground that he was making that much money, and then realized that even at 50 percent, he was making huge money.”
Following WrestleMania, WWE made several roster cuts while reportedly approaching select wrestlers about reworking their existing deals for less money rather than being released outright.
Some performers reportedly accepted cuts as steep as 50 percent, while others like Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods said “no thanks, we’re out.”
Nash Clarifies TKO Creative Comments
The WWE Hall of Famer also addressed recent comments he made regarding TKO’s involvement in WWE creative. Nash recently suggested TKO should stay out of the creative side and allow Triple H to handle things without interference.
However, Nash clarified that Triple H never personally told him TKO executives were meddling in the creative process.
“One thing Paul and I have never done is we have never talked business,” Nash explained. “Because that takes away the trust that he has with the people he works for. So that’s always been, it’s none of my business.”
Nash suggested his frustration may have boiled over after a long stretch of travel. “Maybe I got pissed off last week. Maybe it was just because I did a lot of driving. Maybe I thought I was a wrestler again,” he said.
Nash also spoke positively about his interactions with TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, noting Emanuel has always treated him respectfully. “He was such a gentleman. He came up, he shook my hand. I’ve never been treated better by anyone in management than the way he treated me,” Nash stated.
WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash is speaking out about the wave of roster cuts that followed WrestleMania 42, and he isn’t mincing words about the company’s direction under TKO Group Holdings.
Nash recently addressed the post-WrestleMania 42 releases, calling out specific firings as flat-out wrong. The WWE legend also set his sights on the financial optics of the situation — pointing to the significant executive compensation packages at TKO while rank-and-file performers were being let go.
Nash Criticizes TKO’s Financial Priorities
According to Nash, the juxtaposition of TKO leadership raking in big paydays while wrestlers are shown the door doesn’t sit right with him. The former WWE Champion singled out Nick Khan and TKO’s reported financial growth as a backdrop to cuts that Nash believes were unjustified.
“It was wrong,” Nash said of the releases, per recent reports.
Nash’s comments come in the context of a broader wave of budget-tightening at WWE. TKO moved to cut costs through more than 24 releases and asked at least six talents to take pay reductions. Among those who reportedly declined a 50% pay cut were Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of The New Day — both of whom were subsequently released.
The Bigger Picture: TKO’s Budget Squeeze
The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in early May that WWE asked some talent to renegotiate to lower pay, with NXT talent particularly affected. Notably, Roman Reigns was reportedly not among those asked to take a reduction.
Nash’s frustration reflects a sentiment shared by many in the wrestling community: that the business case for the cuts is difficult to accept when TKO’s executive class continues to grow its earnings while the locker room shrinks.
This isn’t the first time Nash has used his platform to hold WWE leadership accountable. The WWE Hall of Famer has long been one of the industry’s most outspoken voices on talent rights and business ethics inside the squared circle.
A Growing Chorus of Criticism
Nash is far from alone. The post-WrestleMania 42 cuts have drawn widespread criticism from current and former WWE talent, media personalities, and fans alike. The combination of high-profile releases, reported pay cut requests, and TKO’s focus on profit margin has made this one of the more contentious off-screen periods in recent WWE history.
As more former stars speak up, the pressure on TKO to address the optics — if not the decisions themselves — is only likely to grow.
Triple H’s new WWE contract sealed his immediate future, but the conversation about whether he would even be in the role much longer was happening inside the company well before WrestleMania 42, not just on Wrestling Twitter.
That’s the picture painted by Bryan Alvarez on the April 28 episode of Wrestling Observer Live. Alvarez reported that the question of Paul Levesque’s standing was an active discussion topic inside WWE leading into Las Vegas, driven less by what he was doing and more by how often he was getting overruled.
Why The Internal Doubt Existed
Alvarez was clear that the backstage conversation was not a referendum on Levesque’s creative work. It was a referendum on his actual authority.
“Sometimes there will be some things that are booked and fans won’t like it, and then they’ll try to get this traction going that maybe we need to replace Triple H,” Alvarez said. “I will say that this year, leading to WrestleMania, unlike previous years when fans were discussing it, it was a topic of conversation in WWE leading up to WrestleMania 42.”
The reason, per Alvarez, was the volume of late changes coming from above him on the org chart.
“I want to make it very clear, the people discussing this within WWE were not discussing this in the sense that, ‘We think he’s doing a horrible job, we need him to be replaced.’ It was being discussed specifically because so much stuff was being done at the last second by people outside. The decision to bring in Pat McAfee, the decision to insert him into the storyline, the thing with Jelly Roll. I had heard about it prior to that as well with other things that had come from above.”
Jelly Roll was layered onto the angle separately. The cumulative effect, per Alvarez, was a sense inside the building that the people writing the checks did not fully trust the person running the show.
“It was just kind of there was a feeling that perhaps these people keep getting involved and why would they be getting involved if they had so much faith in this guy. And there were people that thought, ‘I don’t know if this guy is going to be around this time next year.’”
The New Deal Settles It For Now
Levesque’s new agreement, announced by WWE President Nick Khan during a TKO town hall on April 27, is reportedly a multi-year deal that PWInsider says could run as long as three years. The deal was reportedly completed before WrestleMania weekend, meaning the internal hand-wringing Alvarez described was happening even as the paperwork was being finalized.
Khan publicly backed Levesque during that town hall, telling staff he would remain Chief Content Officer for the foreseeable future. Sources told Bodyslam that TKO is satisfied with the work Levesque has done despite the corporate overrides during WrestleMania season.
“Turns out he ends up getting his deal extended, so he will be around,” Alvarez said. “But it was definitely a discussion point that this may not be his thing for a long period of time. It could be over soon.”
The contract removes the immediate question. The structural one, who actually gets the final say when WWE’s biggest weekend rolls around, is a separate problem entirely. Court filings from 2023 already showed Levesque navigating outside creative interference once before. The names have changed. The dynamic, by Alvarez’s account, has not.
WWE’s creative process is being shaped, at least in part, by artificial intelligence. TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro told staff during a Monday town hall that Nick Khan and Paul “Triple H” Levesque are leaning on AI tools to help guide storyline decisions, according to audio of the internal call obtained by Post Wrestling.
Shapiro framed AI adoption as a “major priority” for the company, pointing to its potential to make employees more efficient and citing UFC’s existing use of AI for fighter rankings as an internal proof point.
Shapiro’s Comments on WWE Creative
“Nick Khan and Triple H are using AI for storylines with the WWE,” Shapiro said. “What’s resonating? What superstars are resonating? In what pockets of the country are they resonating? That helps us with, obviously, our content, our editorial, our creative, our mapping, our touring, and of course, maximizing revenue and getting our product out to the fans most in need of it.”
The framing positions AI not as a script-writing tool but as a market-research engine feeding creative decisions. Which talent is over in which markets, what storylines are landing with the audience, and where to route the touring schedule are all questions Shapiro indicated AI is now helping answer.
It also follows weeks of public messaging from Shapiro about TKO’s grip on WWE. Earlier this month, Shapiro told a University of Alabama class that TKO has “complete control” over WWE creative, on the record acknowledgment of a chain of command fans had spent weeks debating after WrestleMania 42.
TKO CFO Says It’s Still Early
TKO Chief Financial Officer Andrew Schleimer also addressed AI during the same town hall, offering a more measured view. Schleimer said the company has only run “tests and pilots” so far and remains in the early stages of implementation, with current uses focused on data and analytics for WWE and UFC consumers, plus minor broadcast enhancements.
The disclosure lands at a moment when Triple H’s grip on creative has just been formally locked in. PWInsider reported earlier this week that Paul Levesque signed a new multi-year deal to remain WWE Chief Content Officer, with TKO publicly endorsing his work in the role despite ongoing fan criticism over recent creative decisions.
Context for the AI Push
The AI commentary was one of several headlines from the town hall. Khan also told staff that WWE is “monitoring” the security situation in the Middle East ahead of Night of Champions on June 27 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and acknowledged that running back-to-back WrestleManias in Las Vegas was “ultimately my decision,” conceding the company may not repeat that choice.
WWE communications staff did not immediately respond to Post Wrestling’s request for comment.
TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro told a University of Alabama class that TKO has “complete control” over WWE creative, confirming on the record the chain of command that fans have spent weeks speculating about following WrestleMania 42.
Audio of Shapiro’s Q&A with roughly 15 students, recorded by Reddit user South-Persimmon-5342 and circulated on X by Blake Avignon over the weekend, has spread rapidly across wrestling media. The session took place on the campus in Tuscaloosa the same weekend WWE ran WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18 and 19.
Shapiro puts TKO’s name on every creative decision
Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Chief Content Officer (WWE, Fanatics)
Asked directly about the volume of celebrity involvement in WWE programming, including Pat McAfee, Jelly Roll, Logan Paul, and IShowSpeed, Shapiro did not deflect to Paul “Triple H” Levesque or the WWE creative team.
“First of all, it has complete control, so we’re responsible, good or bad, fact or fiction,” Shapiro said of TKO’s relationship with WWE.
The admission lands with unusual weight given the week it follows. PWInsider reported days before WrestleMania 42 that the McAfee main-event angle with Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes was not the original plan.
The pitch WWE creative developed in January had Aleister Black in that role, tormenting Orton into unleashing the Apex Predator ahead of a WrestleMania weekend match between the two.
Black ended up working the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on SmackDown. McAfee got the main-event spot.
Celebrity push framed as deliberate growth
WWE
Shapiro defended the celebrity pivot as intentional, pointing to Logan Paul, McAfee, Mark Wahlberg, and NBA stars Tyrese Haliburton and Jalen Brunson as evidence the approach is working.
“Having Hollywood tie-ins and celebs and stars, and Logan Paul, Pat McAfee, Mark Wahlberg shows up and does his thing, Tyrese Haliburton last year got in a fight in the ring with Jalen Brunson of the Knicks, that’s not new, it’s just on a larger stage,” Shapiro said.
He pointed to WWE’s recent growth metrics: Raw tripling its audience since moving to Netflix, SmackDown continuing on USA Network, NXT on The CW reaching 100 million homes, and premium live events shifting to ESPN’s streaming ecosystem.
An explicit trade-off
What separates Shapiro’s comments from the usual corporate talking points is his willingness to state the cost out loud. He acknowledged that aggressive marketing and platform fragmentation will push some fans out.
“We’re spending a lot more money to market the brand and market the content,” Shapiro said. “And when you do that, you’re gonna win some folks over, but you’re also gonna chase some folks away. They don’t like this or they don’t like that. This is too expensive.”
Shapiro then compared WWE’s distribution to Major League Baseball, noting he had just read that watching a full New York Yankees season across the playoffs now requires around 10 platforms at a combined cost of roughly $1,000. His framing: that is the modern entertainment economy, and WWE is not going to fight it.
ESPN deal raises the stakes
The fragmentation point is about to get sharper. WWE’s premium live events move to ESPN’s streaming service in 2026 under a reported five-year deal valued around $1.6 billion, with WrestleMania 42 serving as the transition point.
For a fan who wants Raw on Netflix, SmackDown on USA, NXT on The CW, and all PLEs on ESPN, the annual subscription stack can easily exceed $1,000, the exact scenario Shapiro acknowledged will drive some viewers away.
His message to the hardcore base, stripped of the diplomatic phrasing: TKO has done the math, knows what it is losing, and has decided the mainstream growth is worth more than the fans it leaves behind.
WWE has officially surpassed UFC in annual revenue for the first time since the two properties merged under TKO Group Holdings, according to the company\’s fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings report released today.
WWE generated $1.709 billion in revenue for fiscal 2025, a 22% increase year-over-year. UFC posted $1.502 billion for the same period — putting WWE $207 million ahead of its sister promotion. It marks a milestone that would have seemed unlikely when TKO was first formed in 2023.
WWE Revenue by Category
The full-year breakdown tells the story of a company firing on every cylinder. Media rights, production and content crossed the billion-dollar threshold for the first time, reaching $1.000 billion — up $135.1 million (+18%) year-over-year. That growth was driven primarily by WWE\’s landmark deals with Netflix (Monday Night Raw) and ESPN, which came into effect in 2025 and represent a major step up in rights fees from the prior USA Network arrangement.
Live events and hospitality — the category that most closely reflects Premium Live Event and house show performance, including ticket revenue and site fees — reached $412.8 million, up $74.3 million (+22%) from 2024. That\’s the largest revenue category outside of media rights, and its growth reflects both higher ticket prices and WWE\’s expanding international PLE calendar.
Partnerships and marketing was the fastest-growing segment, jumping $76.6 million to $159.6 million — nearly doubling year-over-year. New sponsorship deals and renewals at higher rates drove the increase, a sign that advertisers and brand partners are placing significant value on WWE\’s expanded reach through Netflix and ESPN.
Consumer products licensing and other came in at $136.4 million, up $25.3 million (+23%), rounding out a year of broad-based revenue growth across every line item.
WWE Profitability: Now Outpacing UFC
WWE\’s Adjusted EBITDA — a key measure of operating profitability — climbed 32% to $896.5 million in 2025, up from $681.1 million. The Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 52%, up from 49% the prior year.
In a remarkable reversal, WWE now out-earns UFC in absolute profit dollars. UFC\’s Adjusted EBITDA was $851.0 million — still elite at a 57% margin, but $45 million behind WWE\’s dollar figure. UFC had long been considered the financially dominant half of TKO\’s portfolio.
Q4 2025: The PLE Timing Factor
WWE\’s Q4 results highlight how much the international PLE calendar can swing quarterly numbers. Live events and hospitality revenue fell $24.8 million in Q4 compared to the prior year, which TKO attributed directly to holding one fewer international Premium Live Event in the quarter. That\’s a meaningful data point: a single international PLE is worth in the range of $20–25 million to WWE\’s top line.
Despite that headwind, WWE\’s Q4 revenue still grew 21% overall, powered by the $64.9 million surge in media rights revenue — the Netflix and ESPN deals running at full strength for the first time. Partnerships and marketing added another $13 million in Q4, and consumer products grew $8.2 million.
WWE\’s Q4 Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 46%, up from 38% in Q4 2024 — a 8-point improvement in a single quarter, even while absorbing higher talent costs.
TKO\’s Overall 2025 Performance and 2026 Outlook
On a consolidated basis, TKO posted full-year revenue of $4.735 billion and Adjusted EBITDA of $1.585 billion — a 47% EBITDA increase year-over-year. Free cash flow reached $1.159 billion. The company returned more than $1.3 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends during the year.
For 2026, TKO is targeting $5.675–$5.775 billion in revenue and $2.240–$2.290 billion in Adjusted EBITDA — roughly 20% top-line growth. The company also announced plans to launch up to $1 billion in share repurchases beginning in March 2026.
\”2025 was a milestone year, underscoring the durability of our premium IP through record-setting live events and transformational global partnerships,\” said TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro. With WWE\’s media rights agreements fully in effect and the international PLE slate continuing to grow, the financial trajectory heading into WrestleMania season looks as strong as it ever has.
Social media has been buzzing over the past few days with claims that Elon Musk is \”heavily rumored\” to be interested in purchasing WWE from TKO Group Holdings. However, there is currently no credible evidence supporting these claims.
What the Rumor Claims
Posts circulating on X, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit allege that Musk is in \”very early stage talks\” to acquire WWE, often citing the company\’s approximately $9.3 billion enterprise value. Some speculation has centered on potential integration between WWE content and Musk\’s X platform.
However, none of these posts point to verifiable SEC filings, board actions, or on-the-record sources.
Why Skepticism Is Warranted
No credible media outlets have confirmed any bid or formal interest from Musk, and neither WWE, TKO Group, nor Endeavor have issued any statements on the matter. Even some of the viral accounts that helped spread the rumor have acknowledged there are no credible reports backing it up. Wrestling outlets amplifying the story have largely labeled it as unsubstantiated social media chatter, with some calling it \”completely untrue.\”
It\’s worth noting that TKO denied similar sale rumors as recently as earlier this year.
WWE\’s Current Ownership
WWE is currently part of TKO Group Holdings, the Endeavor-controlled company formed through the 2023 merger of UFC and WWE. The deal valued the combined entity at roughly $9.3 billion.
Musk\’s only verified business connection to WWE involves content partnerships—his platform X has secured deals for exclusive short-form WWE content. While this demonstrates a working relationship between the companies, it falls far short of any ownership discussions.
Bottom Line
Until an SEC filing emerges, TKO or WWE issues an official statement, or a reputable financial outlet reports on an actual bid, the Musk-WWE acquisition talk should be treated as nothing more than rumor mill speculation.
TKO Group Holdings officially launches its boxing division next week when Zuffa Boxing presents Z01 on Friday, January 23, at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
The event streams exclusively on Paramount+ at 9 PM ET, serving as the lead-in to a massive combat sports weekend. UFC 324, headlined by Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett for the interim lightweight title, follows on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena—marking both promotions\’ debut on the streaming platform.
Dana White first teased Zuffa Boxing back in 2017, and the brand officially launched in September 2025 when TKO promoted the Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford superfight. The January 23 card represents the first event under the promotion\’s long-term Paramount+ agreement, which guarantees 12 cards in 2026.
Per industry reports, undefeated Irish prospect Callum Walsh (15-0) headlines against Carlos Ocampo, while Serhii Bohachuk faces former WBA welterweight titleholder Radzhab Butaev in the co-main event.
\”I\’m excited to bring great boxing events to a global audience,\” White said. \”There are millions of boxing fans that will now be able to watch competitive fights with up-and-coming boxers as well as the biggest stars in the sport.\”
Zuffa Boxing is a joint venture between TKO and Saudi-based Sela, with plans to build a 200-fighter roster operating under a UFC-style promotional model.
