Vince McMahon Goes Into Full ‘Damage Control’ Mode

For the record, Vince McMahon owns 57% of WWE’s Class A stock, and 87% of WWE’s Class B stock, meaning he has roughly 82% of the voting power. So any outside group buying WWE stock and trying to influence change may be able to pressure WWE a bit, but Vince McMahon is pretty much untouchable right now given the number of shares he owns.

NASDAQ.com has posted a lengthy article on Vince McMahon and WWE, focusing on the behind-the-scenes operations of the company including Vince, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon’s roles. The article also features a quote from Vince McMahon from today, following WWE’s stock dropping over 40%. Vince McMahon goes into full “damage control/spin mode” here trying to make it seem like there are no issues at all. Of course, that’s not the case and is the reason why Vince is holding an “emergency conference call” this Monday to try and calm their shareholders down.

“There should be no confusion on Wall Street as it is extraordinary to have reached more than 660,000 WWE Network subscribers only 42 days after launch, putting us on track to reach 1 million subscribers by the end of the year. We feel good about nearly doubling the value of our four largest TV deals around the world.”

In the article, McMahon says WWE Network is “one of the most important things I’ve ever done.”

The article takes a somewhat harsh tone towards McMahon’s management style in how he relates to Wall Street: “The episode highlighted a shortcoming in Mr. McMahon’s leadership style: While an unbeatable promoter and a creative genius, Mr. McMahon has at times struggled to master corporate negotiations and dealings with Wall Street.”

A Wall Street analyst (Bradley Safalow, chief executive of PAA Research) quoted in the article also calls WWE Network a “black hole” and said WWE management has a history of “over-promising and underperforming.”

The article also talks about Triple H’s role in WWE: “A key to securing the future of the WWE is characters, says Mr. McMahon. With that in mind, Mr. Levesque, who spent 20 years in the ring and still sometimes appears as Triple H, was put in charge of talent. Last summer, he launched a performance center in Orlando, Florida, where WWE wannabes are put through their paces to see if they have what it takes.

‘We were doing nothing to create the future talent,’ says Mr. Levesque, who says he learned 90% of what he knows from his father-in-law.”

Interestingly enough, McMahon says in the article that he sees his position being split up into many different directions after he is gone.

“It started out as a one-man band but if this is really going to take off and be everything I think it should be, it can’t be one man’s vision. If I get hit by a bus, there will be a couple of hiccups along the way but my position would be split into different directions. We have a lot of creative people and a lot of executives of a high caliber.”

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