UFC and WWE officially merge to create TKO Group

The shares of TKO Group, the new company that houses WWE and UFC, They opened at $102 per share on their first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. has closed its previously announced deal with World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. WWE’s merger with the company that runs the Ultimate Fighting Championship creates a $21.4 billion sports entertainment company.

In a presentation after the deal was announced in April, WWE and Endeavor said they would cross-promote to boost brand awareness and deepen penetration of their overlapping fan base of more than 700 million UFC fans and 1.2 billion of WWE fans around the world.

Endeavor has a 51% controlling stake in the new company. Current WWE shareholders have a 49% stake.

“With UFC and WWE under one roof, we will deliver unparalleled experiences for more than one billion passionate fans around the world,” Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor and TKO Group, said in a statement.

Jefferies analyst Randal Konik likes the combination of UFC and WWE.

“We like the UFC and WWE assets in a world where linear television is losing market share to streaming, so live sports content is in high demand,” he wrote in a note to clients.

“The upcoming rights expirations for both WWE and UFC present significant improvement opportunities for UFC and WWE cash flows in their own right and will further drive EBITDA margins at each franchise on an incremental basis.”

TKO Group Holdings Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TKO.”