Vince McMahon Sheds Stock Following Exit From WWE

Vince McMahon has shed part of his stake in WWE following his hasty exit from the company. McMahon recently retired and resigned from his positions with the company amid investigations into hush money payments he made to former female employees to conceal allegations of sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse.

McMahon filed a Statement of Changes in Beneficial Ownership of Securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the filing, McMahon disposed of 38,519 shares of publicly traded Class A common stock. The disposed shares are unvested stock units forfeited by McMahon in connection with his retirement from WWE. The filing was dated July 22, 2022.

The move leaves McMahon with 69,157 shares of Class A Common Stock. The total excludes 100 shares of Class A stock owned individually by McMahon's wife, Linda McMahon. In the filing, Vince McMahon disclaims beneficial ownership of those shares.

The shares detailed in the filing represent a small percentage of Vince McMahon's total stake in WWE. He currently owns 28.7 million shares of the company's Class B Common Stock, roughly 37% of its total outstanding shares. Class B shares carry ten times the voting power of WWE's Class A shares. McMahon's stake gives him approximately 80% of WWE's voting power.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the SEC and federal prosecutors are now looking into the payments made by McMahon. WWE's latest filing with the SEC earlier this week said the company will be amending past financial reports to account for $14.6 million paid out to former employees. According to WWE, even if McMahon made the payments from personal funds, the payments were of WWE's benefit and therefore should be recorded as such.

At least eight law firms are also investigating whether WWE engaged in unlawful business practices at the expense of investors. WWE's stock price did rise on Tuesday following the news of McMahon's retirement and resignation.