Triple H Named WWE’s Chief Content Officer, Gets Salary Bump Along With Three Other Top Execs in Wake of Vince McMahon Exit
DUE TO PAYOUTS FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Todd Spangler
Fri, September 2, 2022
WWE exec and pro wrestler Paul “Triple H” Levesque has officially taken the title of chief content officer, and he’s also received a hike in compensation along with three other top company executives.
In addition, the company said it promoted chief financial officer Frank Riddick to the position of president, continuing in his role as CFO, effective Sept. 2. WWE disclosed the info in an SEC filing Friday.
The changes come after Vince McMahon, formerly WWE’s chairman and CEO, resigned from the company on July 22, amid an investigation by the board of directors into misconduct allegations.
With Vince McMahon’s departure, the company named as co-CEOs Stephanie McMahon (Mr. McMahon’s daughter, who was formerly chief brand officer) and Nick Khan (previously president and chief revenue officer). The company had already announced that Levesque, formerly EVP of talent relations, would take over leadership of the creative team. (Ms. McMahon and Levesque are married.) Mr. McMahon had previously headed the creative team that develops storylines and characters for WWE’s programming.
Because of the changes in the responsibilities of Levesque, Ms. McMahon, Khan and Riddick, the compensation and human capital committee of WWE’s board “determined on August 31, 2022, that it is appropriate to provide certain enhancements to [their] compensation,” per the filing.
Ms. McMahon’s annual base salary increased from $730,000 to $1.35 million, and she will continue to receive payments including the $750,000 guaranteed minimum under her booking agreement. Levesque’s annual base salary increased from $730,000 to $900,000, and he also will continue to receive payments including $1.0 million guaranteed minimum under his booking agreement. Khan’s salary increased from $1.2 million to $1.35 million per year and Riddick’s increased from $850,000 to $950,000.
WWE disclosed new performance-based annual bonus targets for the execs, as a percentage of base salary: for Ms. McMahon and Khan, that’s 160%; for Riddick, it’s 125%; and for Levesque, it’s 100%. They will also receive annual stock grants beginning in 2023 with the following target values: Ms. McMahon and Khan, $3.575 million; Riddick, $2.4 million; and Levesque, $1.6 million.
In addition, Ms. McMahon will receive a one-time special stock grant of $10 million and Levesque will receive $8 million in a one-time stock grant around Oct. 3, 2022, with a three-year vesting period contingent on certain performance metrics. WWE also added new severance-payment terms to the four executives’ contracts in the event of a change in control of the company, according to Friday’s filing.
Mr. McMahon remains a stockholder with a controlling interest in WWE. On Aug. 16, WWE said the board’s investigation into his alleged misconduct was “substantially complete” and the company restated earnings going back to 2019 to account for personal payments Mr. McMahon made during his tenure. That included $14.6 million in payments that Mr. McMahon allegedly made to women to keep quiet about affairs and other misconduct.
EMBEZZLEMENT
Last month, WWE disclosed that it had subsequently identified $5 million in additional payments Mr. McMahon made in 2007 and 2009 — unrelated to the misconduct allegations — that the company said should have been reported on its financial statements. The $5 million in payments made in 2007 and 2009 were charitable donations to the now-defunct Donald J. Trump Foundation, the Wall Street Journal reported. In 2007 and 2009, Trump had appeared in WWE TV events.
WWE leadership change won’t ‘hold the company back at all,’ analyst explains
Longtime WWE frontman Vince McMahon has stepped down as CEO and chairman, leaving behind a void in the most electrifying circus on television.
But one analyst argued the leadership change appears to be coming off smoothly.
"I don't think it'll hold the company back at all," Brandon Ross, media and technology analyst at LightShed Partners, told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "I think that the company has had a succession plan in place for a very long time. They have a management team in place that they are very confident in, and frankly, we are too."
The modern World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is the culmination of almost 70 years of constant expansion and absorption of smaller, regional wrestling franchises helmed by McMahon and his father, Jess McMahon.
However, the WWE image was slammed after reports surfaced that the SEC and federal prosecutors were investigating the entertainment company over hush money payoffs and sexual misconduct allegations levied against Vince McMahon that led to a hastened retirement.
WWE stock rose more than 5% in the month after McMahon announced his resignation on July 22.
New leadership for WWE
McMahon's daughter Stephanie McMahon now serves as the acting co-CEO alongside former chief revenue officer Nick Khan.
"I think in terms of their relationships with their licensing partners and sponsorship partners, as soon as Vince was removed from the equation, the pressure there actually eased," Ross said, later adding that "the co-CEO thing is a little bit unusual. It's something that WWE has done in the past with co-presidents."
The structure will allow each executive to play to their strong suits, like a tag-team duo, Ross added.
“What you'll see is Stephanie is going to be in charge of everything that has to do with the branding and image of the company and a lot of stuff on the operations side,” he said. “Whereas Nick's main role is going to be revenue. And integral to revenue is cutting deals with third parties, whether it's the licensing deals for RAW or SmackDown or their pay-per-view events which are, in the United States, largely NBC.”
Stephanie McMahon is the company's second female CEO, following in the footsteps of her mother Linda McMahon, who was appointed president in 1993 and served as CEO from 1997 until 2009.
The CEO's husband and former WWE star Paul "Triple H" Levesque has also been given creative responsibilities as executive vice president by his father-in-law.
"I don't think we're going all the way back to the Attitude Era, but clearly the new head of creative... 'Triple H' is from an era where that resonated," Ross said on fan excitement.
WWE's production crewmen reported that they have felt a "massively night and day" shift in the company's workplace atmosphere since Vince McMahon's departure. McMahon was accused of quashing unionization efforts by wrestlers during his tenure at WWE.
'No shortage of potential buyers'
The new management brings into question just how much the company's public-facing leaders matter to its future.
The family-owned enterprise has evolved with each passing decade, expanding from simple broadcasting to live events, video games, and film production. With McMahon's retirement, many investors questioned whether the business would be sold.
"There's clearly no shortage of potential buyers for this asset as media companies and platforms look for owned content, especially live content," Ross stated. "Do we believe that it's true that this business is going to get sold? Probably not in the near term. We think that Stephanie and Paul and Nick really want to run this business."
"It's important, especially to Stephanie, to continue the legacy of her father and maybe put her own imprint on the business," Ross continued. "So we don't think it's actually going to get sold, but what we do think is that there's operational improvements that might come out of this."
Ross noted that the WWE may look to elevate its mid-card talent which has garnered fan excitement.
"Fans have been clamoring to get back towards more technical wrestling — a little bit more of the blood," Ross said. "So I think you'll move a little more in that direction. There will be other changes.”
"Generally if fans are excited, in the media industry — it's all about eyeballs — that means investors should be excited, too," he added.
Luke is a producer for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter @theLukeCM.
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