Yesterday marked the end of an era in the world of professional wrestling and sports entertainment as WWE and UFC officially merged to form TKO Group Holdings. The new publicly traded company, owned by Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor, will see Vince McMahon serve as the Executive Chairman, while Dana White and Nick Khan will serve as the UFC and WWE presidents, respectively. As the new company starts to take shape, layoffs due to redundancy are expected, as are other internal shifts.
One move that looks to already be in motion is the exit of current WWE CFO and President Frank Riddick III. Fightful reports that an internal memo was issued today by Khan, letting several within the company know about his impending departure.
“After over thirteen years on our Board of Directors and almost two years after joining WWE full time as our CFO and serving as President/CFO, Frank Riddick will be leaving WWE post the TKO close at the end of this month.
Frank is a highly respected colleague, and it has been a pleasure to work alongside him. We are grateful for his counsel, support and dedicated years of service and wish him only continued success moving forward.
Nick Khan”
Haus of Wrestling has been able to verify the authenticity of the memo and that Riddick will be departing at the end of the month. Despite his departure, we are told by a senior member of the WWE team that, while we are in the early days of the merge, everything is going well, and spirits seem high.
It is worth noting that Riddick received a $5 million bonus when the WWE and UFC merger closed. Other executives who received bonuses yesterday include Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who received $5 million, Kevin Dunn, $7 million, and Khan, taking home a whopping $15 million.