FINISHING MOVE

Deal to Merge WWE With UFC Close to Being Finalized: Report

UFC’s parent company, Endeavor, is in “advanced talks” to buy Vince McMahon’s promotion, which held its Wrestlemania flagship event over the weekend.

A colossal new combat-sports company could be on the horizon, with sources telling CNBC on Sunday that World Wrestling Entertainment was nearing a deal that would see its acquisition by Endeavor, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s parent company. The multibillion-dollar deal, which could be announced as soon as Monday, would reportedly see WWE and UFC combined into one publicly traded company. CNBC’s report was later confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter and Bloomberg, which emphasized that no final decision had been made and that advanced talks could still fall through. The Endeavor deal would see WWE valued at around $9.3 billion, sources said, and would allow Vince McMahon to remain executive chairman. (McMahon, 77, retired from the company last July amid a sexual misconduct investigation but returned in January to oversee the promotion’s sale.) The development comes as WWE holds Wrestlemania 39, its flagship event, in Los Angeles before a live audience of more than 80,000 fans.