CNBC Lays Waste to Rumors That the WWE Has Been Sold to the Saudis: ‘Let’s Just Take a Step Back’
CNBC’s David Faber blasted journalists who reported on the rumored sale of World Wrestling Entertainment to the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.
Late Tuesday night, Stephanie McMahon resigned as Co-CEO of the WWE after her father, Vince McMahon, returned to the executive board as chairman. A few hours after her announcement, journalists who cover the WWE reported the company had been sold to the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.
Rumors first began to swirl in early January that the Saudis placed a bid to buy the WWE. Steven Muehlhausen, a writer from DAZN, was the first to write that the wrestling company had in fact been sold.
“WWE has been sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The company will go back to being private. Unknown if Vince McMahon will return to head of creative, but it is expected by some people,” Muehlhausen wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
On Wednesday morning’s The Faber Report, the anchor discussed the upward jump in WWE stock after the story went viral, and he blasted Muehlhausen for the tweet.
“I mention it again because there was a tweet overnight from somebody, saying that the Saudis were going to buy, that got deleted,” Faber said. “That wasn’t true, to begin with, but it has had the effect sending the stock up a bit more.”
Faber explained he’s hearing that the company may be looking into finding buyers, but he’s also heard from “prospective buyers that “very much unclear” whether McMahon would actually want to sell. He continued to cast doubt on claims that a sale to the Saudis had been settled on.
“And again, the Saudi thing doesn’t appear to have a lot behind it right now,” Faber added. “Again, that tweet had been deleted, I believe, from earlier. From some gentleman associated with wrestling and marketing overall.”
“Not that the PIF isn’t aggressive, Saudis are, but let’s just take a step back and see,” Faber continued. “Books haven’t even gone out yet. If, in fact, they do.”
Ariel Helwani, a journalist who covers mixed martial arts, issued a fact-check tweet Wednesday morning. He wrote:
Contrary to reports stating otherwise last night, there is no deal in place this precise moment for WWE to be sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund or any entity, sources say.
The organization is still exploring all options, I’m told. Developing.
Worth noting that the original tweet stating it was a done deal has since been deleted.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article attributed the initial reports to Helwani, however, it was Muehlhausen who first tweeted the claims about the sale, and Helwani was fact-checking that claim. We regret the error.
Watch above via CNBC.
