Setting aside the moral and ethical aspects to the Vince McMahon scandal that emerged earlier this year — of which there are many — there was an open question of how WWE would do once he announced his retirement in late July. After all, WWE’s growth from a regional wrestling promotion to a global entertainment powerhouse occurred entirely under his leadership, and shareholders of publicly traded companies tend to get a bit nervous any time there’s a CEO change.
There were plenty of reasons to frame his departure as a positive mood, from anecdotal reactions from fans to WWE programming once Paul “Triple H” Levesque took over as head of creative, to improved ratings numbers that showed more people were tuning in. But the proof was always going to be in how WWE’s stock price reacted.
As it turns out, it’s reacted very, very well. CNBC reported today that WWE’s stock was trading at a 52-week high on Monday, with a share price up 50% since the year began. It’s now at a level it hasn’t seen since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is especially impressive since stocks are down overall in 2022 — the S&P 500, for example, is down 20%.
Interestingly, the article also points out that analysts believe WWE could still be an acquisition target going forward. The company’s TV deals for Raw and SmackDown are both set to be renegotiated in the not too distant future, and in a time of increasing media consolidation, it’s possible a bigger company will simply want to bring WWE under its umbrella and not have to worry about bidding for the rights to broadcast two increasingly rare proven live ratings winners.
Having a high stock price will make WWE more expensive to acquire, but that’s a good problem for the company to have, particularly when the overall financial landscape is still very uncertain. While there might not be a direct cause and effect relationship between McMahon stepping down and the company’s business trending upward, it’s now clear that it certainly didn’t hurt.