Chael Sonnen Wants to Buy the WWE

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

HUGE retirement plans for mega-rich UFC fighter Chael Sonnen -- he tells TMZ, he wants to buy the WWE when he quits fighting ... a company valued at half a BILLION dollars.

And Chael's rep insists he's not joking, telling us, "It is 100% Chael's intent to buy the WWE." In fact, the rep says Chael is already meeting with bigwig friends in the investment world to enact his takeover.

Bad news though -- a rep for the WWE tells us the company ain't for sale ... at least not yet ... so Chael better be prepared to put a sweet offer on the table.

The rep adds, "We are a publicly traded company, so [Chael is] more than welcome to purchase shares of WWE stock and become one of our valued shareholders.”

I can't believe I even had to write the words "Chael Sonnen wants to buy the WWE" on Wrestlezone. Every instinct said this was just a massive joke between Sonnen and CM Punk, to rib the fans. Can't you just imagine Punk saying "hey man...you know what would be great?"

But, here's the reasons this ridiculous idea - or at least Sonnen at some point being involved in the WWE - might actually have merit.

1) Chael Sonnen is a good friend of CM Punk; the longest reigning WWE Champion of the past 25 years.

2) WWE is a ****e for mainstream media, and anything that can get them on TMZ, the nightly news, or talked about on ESPN.

3) Chael Sonnen is the greatest pro wrestler currently working in UFC right now. And by that I mean, he's a ridiculously good talker that doesn't have a problem playing a character, and connects with fans on a natural level.

4) Sonnen got paid $50,000 to lose to Jon Jones last week. He got paid the same to lose to Anderson Silva. He got paid over $100,000 grand with his bonus against Marquardt. Point is, the dude has money. Not quite as much as some of the guys getting paid millions for their fights, because he's never carried a PPV as a champ, but he's got cash. WWE stock is pretty damn low; if he wanted to buy a ton of shares, I'm sure he could manage it. With investors, I'm sure he coudl make his way to being the biggest shareholder under the McMahon family, as they own most of it.

The whole concept is insane. Chael Sonnen is never going to buy the WWE. If he did, he wouldn't know what to do with the damn thing. You can't just take over a half a billion dollar company with multiple global TV shows, and be fine. Even if you are besties with CM Punk.

 

[Rayne]

The market capitalization of the WWE is currently $695 million dollars. (The value of shares in a company multiplied by the value of each share. It breaks down further into regular stock and voting stock; regular stock means you're along for the ride, voting stock means you can vote for the WWE's Board of Directors- last I checked, 96% was controlled by the McMahon family.)

What that means is that any deal to purchase enough of the WWE to 'own' it- to be able to make and enforce decisions concerning the future of the company- would fall somewhere in the range of $350 million dollars. You'd scale it down some because you never get full retail value doing a bulk sale like that; but you'd also scale that number up some, as an enticement to a not-entirely-willing seller.

That number doesn't have too much meaning in relation to a sale; any business transaction needs two parties, one who wants to buy, and one who wants to sell, and old maxims of 'buy high, sell low' still apply. The market capitalization of a company can change pretty drastically as its stock price does, and isn't specifically a 'for sale' price. The point of bringing it up, however, is to discuss the kind of money Chael Sonnen would be talking about here. Even to be considered a minority owner front-man, he'd have to put down a few million dollars.

That places it in the realm of "OK, it could conceivably happen", but only on the financial end. He doesn't have to be Daddy Warbucks here, he just has to be able to attract people with large sums of money to him- which he already does quite nicely. On the other side, he'd have to convince the McMahon family to sell. (I don't mean Vince + Linda; they're going to be dead or senile in the time frame we're discussing. I mean Shane, Marissa, Paul, Stephanie, and their children. That's not as crazy as it might sound.)

Like most people, my first impulse was to laugh about this, and pass it off as Chael seeking attention. When I crunch numbers, it actually sounds plausible.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't think anyone genuinely takes him seriously. While I don't have access to the man's finances or anything, I very, very much doubt that he has anything approaching the finances to buy out the McMahons. I also very much doubt that he has the sort of connections needed to bring in the kind of investors it would take. Sonnen is someone that's known for being a big talker and I think this is just the latest example. In a day or so, this will probably be completely forgotten about. Even if Sonnen did have those finances and was able to put together the investors, he'd still ultimately have to convince the McMahons to sell out and I simply don't see that happening with any realistic degree of success.

If it was someone like Donald Trump who'd made the statement, people would probably take it more seriously. Given Trump's history with WWE, it'd almost certainly be used as part of an angle, but the fact that it'd be Trump would generate some speculation as to its legitimacy, at least for a little while.

 

[Merkin353]

So lets get the facts straight.

1. He is friends with CM Punk.

2. He is a good talker.

3. He doesn't have enough money to buy a company from people who aren't willing to sell it.

So what does that smell like? A story line in the making. (With a hint of an invasion type angle)

If he wants or claims to want to buy the company than he has some type of interest in Pro Wrestling & therefor knows how to get Vince McMahons attention. It's not that hard, just wave the right dollar sign over his famous hair. Lets say CM Punk V Austin does not happen @ 30 we get Sonnen V Punk or Sonnen V Lesnar.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Even if he could buy the WWE, and even if the WWE was for sale, I pray to God he falls flat on his face. Some random douche buying the only important company in pro wrestling? How about no.

As shit as the WWE is right now and has been for many years, as grim as the future of the product is (content wise), they still maintain their business. If WWE kicked the bucket or just got to half of what they are now, believe me the genre of pro wrestling is dead. The only company to remind people that wrestling is still a thing is the WWE.

If that dude buys it I have every reason to believe that'll be the end of it. So, based on how ludicrous it sounds, I call bullshit. This is either a storyline or that guy is looking for some publicity before a bout or something. Watch him release a book in a week or something.

He ain't buying nothing.

 

[Con T.]

How can people not get the Chael Sonnen game yet?

Seriously, this is what the guy does. I'm starting to believe if he walked around all day with the troll meme face on 24/7, some people would take him super cereal. This was Chael shooting the shit, saying something he found amusing, and now we have this.

 

[HBsam31]

Now I am not a fan of Sonnen at all, and honestly he isn't even a great UFC fighter. Seems like he loses all of his marquee match ups. That being said it seems like we have been talking about him a lot on these forums lately. I can't see Vince ever giving up control of the WWE to anyone outside of his family. I could see this being the making for an angle if he were to get involved with the company in some form. If he were to invest in the company I don't see it being a bad idea, but as far as running it I doubt he would even know what he is doing. I doubt he even has that kind of loot to purchase the whole company. This whole thing sounds like a load of bs to me.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Um, whatever. I didn't know back to back losses in the UFC was conducive to being a billionaire.

 

[Headman]

Just putting this out there. I too would like to purchase the WWE. I can make an offer of $800 right now and I'll throw in an LJN Junkyard Dog figure with most of the paint rubbed off his tights.

 

[The Warlord]

Anytime you see the name Chael Sonnen in any news or headline, you must assume its complete bullshit right off the bat.

Its like reading Sun magazine at the newstands at the grocery store. You know you cant believe a single fucking word, but it sometimes is entertaining. Unfortunately, Chael is starting to lose that too. He'll be irrelevant in less than a year...

 

[#heel420]

If he seriously thinks he will be able to buy the WWE he is delusional.

That being said, imagine how much better it would be if he did buy it.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

You know what all this jackshit will accomplish...random "Sonnen Vs Cena for the WWE ownership match". If this was the Attitude Era, we would've booked it by now, but I think there is an angle here. That angle might culminate into some kinda match at WM 30.

This is just publicity, for publicity's sake. For fuck's sake atleast try to troll harder Sonnen!

 

[Pedigree1]

I loves me some Chael Sonnen! Dude is funny and just the best shit talker on the planet! He got under Anderson Silvas skin (although silva cleaned his clock)and well recently talked shit about bones jones. His talk of wanting to buy the WWE is just that a reason to stir the pot.

We cant possibly take this guy serious and i highly doubt he has the resources to even make a decent offer! But i will give Chael P sonnen this,at least he is entertaining. BTW the p stands for perfection

 

[i'm a cm punk girl]

WWE at the moment is worth 700 million. None of these UFC guys put together have that kind of money.

 

[Septumus]

When I see news like this when I wake up in the morning, I can't help but think I'm drunk from the night before.

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

Another example of Wrestlezone’s “reporting.” This isn’t even remotely legit. How can I say that without being personally involved? Because it’s not even remotely possible. Sure, anyone can say they want to buy the WWE. But wanting and having the ability to do so is completely different things.

For one, the McMahons likely aren’t interested in selling. Why would they want to? Even if he were to go the stock route, it’s very possibly that buying up all the public stock would still only give him a minority stake in the WWE. I do believe that the McMahon family has the majority of shares and voting rights in the WWE. Also, he has nowhere near the amount of money needed to do something like this. That’s hundreds of millions of dollars, if not a billion. And Chael Sonnen is not a mainstream crossover name. He’s not a guy that people would get excited about buying the WWE (doing something with the WWE and properly hyped is a different story).

The only way that this is even possible is if he were to be an investor/partner in a group (and it did say that it was a group) attempting to do this. And even then he’d have to be a very minor partner. His money couldn’t be that much, and like I said, he’s not a huge mainstream personality to bring buzz to a story.

Really it’s just a comment by a guy. That’s all. No story. No speculation. No possibility. Honestly even titling the headline “Breaking: UFC Fighter Wants To Buy WWE” is a traffic bait by WZ. I love the forum, and occasionally there’s decent news, bit the headline are so ridiculous.

 

[GeneralKarim]

No, he does not want to do said action.

 

[New Hot Fed]

Steve Austin was making close to 20 million a year in his heyday and he could not buy the WWE. 100 thousand is pocket changes.