Nick Khan says WWE will be aggressive in its aim to cut costs following the company’s deal with Endeavor.
On April 3, an agreement between WWE and UFC’s parent company, Endeavor, was officially announced. The deal will see WWE and UFC merge and form a new publicly traded company. The merger is expected to close later in 2023.
Speaking on LightShed Live, Khan was asked about the cost synergies of the merger, and he referenced the way Endeavor cut down on costs when they acquired UFC. He made it clear that they’re expecting the same approach with this deal, and he noted that they will be “aggressive” in their approach.
“If you look at what Endeavor was able to take out cost-wise from UFC in 2016, or shortly after that deal was done, we have the same expectation here. We think 50 [million] is a really, really conservative number. We have integration teams that are being formed now. We’re gonna get those in shape.
“I think we’ll have a better sense of it in a month or two, but we’re gonna be pretty aggressive with them to make sure that, for our shareholders, for our company, our organization, is as lean and mean as possible, and we’re gonna rely on that Endeavor flywheel to make up the rest.
When asked whether it takes “significant head cut counts” or other cost elements to achieve those numbers, Khan noted that there are other costs. He stated that the company is focused on protecting the product, and he pointed to both the creative team and the production team. Khan stated that they will examine other efficiencies around the company.
“There’s other costs. What we always want to be protective of, our creative team, our production team, keep in mind, none of us have anything to sell, and the company would not have been transacted at this sort of price point of the product wasn’t great,” Khan said. “So the most important thing is to leave the product untouched. Untouched meaning if Triple H and Kevin Dunn, our long-time executive producer, want to evolve it, great. But in terms of cutbacks there, that’s not what we’re looking to do. So other efficiencies all around the company, we’re getting in the middle of, and we’ll see how it shakes out.”
Check out Vince McMahon’s comments about selling WWE here.
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