Endeavor’s $21 billion deal to merge its UFC with the WWE and create TKO Group Holdings last year created a live sports powerhouse. The deal, orchestrated by the Ari Emanuel-led holding company, also delivered rich compensation packages for its top executives.
Emanuel took home a package valued at nearly $65 million last year, including a $911,538 salary (it is prorated to reflect only Sept. 12, 2023 to the end of the year), a $24 million bonus, and $40 million in stock awards, per TKO’s 2023 proxy filing disclosed on Wednesday.
As always with CEO pay packages (including Emanuel’s $300 million-plus package in 2021), that number is dependent on the company hitting key metrics, and the share price consistently moving upwards.
TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro earned a package valued at $16.1 million last year, while CFO Andrew Schleimer took home an $8.8 million package. WWE president Nick Khan, who is also a board member of the company, earned $32 million in compensation.
TKO will soon be Endeavor’s only exposure to the public markets, with the core Endeavor holding company set to go private in a $13 billion deal with Silver Lake. That deal specifies that Endeavor’s controlling stake in TKO will not be sold.
And the proxy comes during what has been a consequential few months for TKO.
In January, the company inked a 10-year, $5 billion deal with Netflix for Raw, and added Dwayne Johnson to its board of directors.
Shortly after, however, the company’s chairman Vince McMahon resigned from the board after a sex trafficking lawsuit was filed against him.
According to the proxy, McMahon was paid $376,323 in 2023 for his work as an executive with the company, predating his term as a director.
