Vince McMahon Sells Nearly $40 Million In WWE Stock, Do Shane Or Stephanie Own More WWE Stock?

WWE announced yesterday in an SEC filing that Vince McMahon recently sold 2,191,894 shares of WWE stock. The worth of those shares is approximately $38-39 million. The shares represented about 6% of the company’s outstanding shares and leaves Vince with 37,080,747 shares of WWE, or 48.8% of all WWE shares. You can find the SEC filing below. It was also noted that Vince sold the shares for, “estate planning purposes for the benefit of Mr. McMahon and certain members of Mr. McMahon’s family.”

On May 16, 2016, the Vincent K. McMahon 2013 Irrev. Trust U/A dtd. December 5, 2013 (the “GRAT”) sold 2,191,894 shares of Class A common stock of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company”) in a block trade made in accordance with the provisions of Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The GRAT was established by Vincent K. McMahon (“Mr. McMahon”), the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, for estate planning purposes for the benefit of Mr. McMahon and certain members of Mr. McMahon’s family. The GRAT sale was executed for liquidity and asset diversification. After the sale, the GRAT continues to own 1,547,372 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock. The GRAT may, at any time, subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, dispose of some or all of its remaining shares of the Company’s common stock depending on various factors, including, but not limited to, the price of the shares of the Company’s Class A common stock, the terms and conditions of the transaction and prevailing market conditions, as well as liquidity, family planning and diversification objectives. Other than possible additional sales by the GRAT, Mr. McMahon informed the Company that he has no current plans to sell any shares of the Company’s stock and that he intends to continue in his capacity as the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the foreseeable future.

The 2,191,894 shares sold by the GRAT represent approximately 6% of the Company’s outstanding shares of Class A common stock. After the sale, Mr. McMahon beneficially owns 37,080,747 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, which represents approximately 86% of the Company’s total voting power and approximately 48.8% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock.

Pro Wrestling business analyst Brandon Howard posted the following chart to his Twitter page taking a look at the key owners of WWE shares at this moment:

Best I can count, here’s the breakdown of $WWE ownership after Vince sold over 2 million shares (2.8% of WWE) today. pic.twitter.com/6X0ZcbERTm

— Brandon Howard (@adecorativedrop) May 17, 2016