Vince McMahon sells $270M in WWE stock to fund XFL relaunch

By: Richard M.

WWE chief Vince McMahon owes his fortune to the wrestling ring — and now he’s diverted a chunk of it to the gridiron.

The wrestling company revealed on Wednesday that McMahon cashed out $270 million of his WWE holdings to finance the launch of a professional football league.

McMahon sold the stock because he needed capital “to explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including launching a professional football league under the name `XFL,’ ” the regulatory filing said.

WWE stock immediately fell 3.9 percent — but recovered somewhat in Thursday’s trading, closing up 1.3 percent to $86 per share.

That may be because McMahon has no plans to sell additional shares in the family-run business and that he’ll continue as chairman and CEO, the filing said.

The dollar amount attached to McMahon’s sale represented the largest since the CEO took the company public in 1999. But it was preceded by his unloading 3.3 million shares in December 2017 and 306,000 shares in November 2018.

McMahon nonetheless continues to hold 37 percent of the entertainment company’s total outstanding shares — and more than 80 percent of its voting power.

McMahon announced in January 2018 that he planned to resurrect the XFL, a joint venture with NBC that lasted a single season in 2001 and burned through an estimated $70 million.

The new XFL has a launch date in February 2020 — the weekend after the NFL’s Super Bowl.

Its eight teams have signed on to play a 10-week schedule and, according press reports, McMahon is committed to backing the alternative league with $500 million in its first three seasons.

McMahon, 73, is worth an estimated $3.2 billion, according to Forbes.