Vince McMahon is facing serious allegations of $exual misconduct and trafficking from former WWE employee Janel Grant, which led to his resignation from WWE and TKO Group Holdings. Following his departure, McMahon has sold some of his TKO shares. Mark Shapiro, TKO COO, recently shared insights into McMahon’s perspective on WWE’s current direction after a recent meeting with him.
In an interview with Alex Sherman of CNBC Sports, Shapiro explained that McMahon is no longer involved in WWE’s daily decisions. Shapiro said they had breakfast a few weeks ago — their first meeting in quite some time — and McMahon was both professional and friendly.
Shapiro clarified that McMahon no longer makes decisions, isn’t on the board, and isn’t consulted by WWE, adding that McMahon is currently dealing with legal matters and wishes for privacy as he navigates them.
TKO and WWE will continue to grow and expand, Shapiro assured. While McMahon still owns shares, his stake is not as large as it once was. When asked if McMahon supports WWE’s direction, Shapiro responded that McMahon is positive about it, though Shapiro hadn’t specifically sought his opinion.
You can read their exchange below:
Sherman: “One question about Vince? He’s not a part of the company anymore. He’s sold out. Do you still hear from him at all?”
Shapiro: “I had breakfast with him a few weeks ago just to check in. It had been a long time. Haven’t heard from him at all. Obviously, the series on Netflix came out, and I wanted to see kind of where he was.
He couldn’t have been more cooperative and nicer — total pro at breakfast. But he’s out of the business entirely. He doesn’t make decisions. He’s not on the board. He doesn’t opine. We don’t consult him.
He’s got some litigation he’s working through, and he wants the privacy and time to work through it, which is great, because, in the meantime, we’re going to keep building TKO and WWE, and expanding the horizon, expanding the opportunities. And he’s still a shareholder — not the shareholder he once was, but he’s still a shareholder.”
Sherman: “But he’s supportive of the direction WWE is going in and has gone?”
Shapiro: “Couldn’t have been more positive, but I wasn’t asking for his opinion.”
TKO COO Mark Shapiro had breakfast with Vince McMahon recently. He confirmed that McMahon is no longer involved with WWE.pic.twitter.com/wdHtOOuTZ6
— WrestleFeed (@WrestleFeedApp) November 7, 2024
According to Brandon Thurston, the latest disclosure showed McMahon had 8 million TKO shares, just under 5% of the company.
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