Endeavor President Mark Shapiro Confirms Merged WWE-UFC Company Will Be Called TKO

The new company being created out of the merger between WWE and UFC finally has a new name: "TKO." Mark Shapiro, president of Endeavor, the company swallowing up WWE, shared the news on the "Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch" on Wednesday. "We're going to name the company TKO," Shapiro said. "So, the public company will be TKO and it will trade under the ticker symbol TKO." Shapiro said the name came from his general counsel Seth Krauss' wife, who made the suggestion to her husband one day.

"I want to be clear: You never know where a good idea's going to come from so that's why you've got to canvass people and you have to listen as a leader," Shapiro said. "And as we're thinking about what the name is going to be my general counsel called and said, I got an idea for you from my wife, and it was like, yes, immediately. There wasn't even a discussion. Like, can you clear that? Is it, you know, is that IP cleared? Is that name cleared? Can we trade under that symbol? Because that is an absolute home run. So I appreciate her doing that."

The merger is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023, according to multiple sources. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel announced the deal together last month after WrestleMania 39 weekend, telling CNBC the merger will lead to an 11-seat board that will be made up of six UFC representatives and five from WWE.