Final Settlement Of WWE Shareholder Lawsuit Delayed, Vince McMahon To Owe Millions
The trial in the WWE merger lawsuit may have been canceled at the beginning of June due to a reported settlement, but that settlement has yet to be paid to shareholder plaintiffs, and is reportedly delayed by a disagreement between co-defendants, WWE and Vince McMahon.
According to POST Wrestling on Friday, a series of documents this week filed by attorneys for the shareholders revealed the full settlement amount to be $147.5 million, after shareholders claimed the full settlement was not disclosed to the public due to TKO Group Holding's partial disclosures. TKO revealed in its quarterly financial filing this week that the company's portion, separate from McMahon's portion of the payout, will be $105 million. According to a Bloomberg report, McMahon will pay $42.5 million.
POST Wrestling reported that, according to WWE's side, there is disagreement between the co-defendants, WWE (Nick Khan, Paul Levesque, George Barrios and Michelle Wilson) and Vince McMahon, which is holding up the finalization of the settlement. The outlet reported that according to WWE's side, the disagreement stems from indemnification agreements with their insurers.
An attorney for WWE submitted a letter that called it a "narrow disagreement," citing the indemnification agreements and "contribution obligations" between co-defendants and their insurers. An attorney for McMahon also filed a letter stating the former chairman of WWE has agreed to the settlement, and said there are no remaining obstacles in the way of finalizing it. No further explanation of the "disagreement" was given.
POST explained that directors on a board are often legally protected, or "indemnified" against lawsuits, and a company will provide them defense attorneys if they are sued, and agree to pay for settlements if those directors are found liable. McMahon's degree of indemnification by TKO and WWE, and whether or not he has his own insurer outside of WWE's, have been big questions.