Fertitta's in talks to sell the UFC (Update: Offically sold for $4B)

[Avs_19]

the owners of the ufc are in advanced talks to sell the business, sources told espn.com.

At least four bidders are believed to have submitted bids for the organization, including wme/img, china media capital, the blackstone group and dalian wanda group. The winning bid, should things proceed, is expected to be for a valuation between $3.5 billion and $4 billion, multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations told espn.com.

the leader in the bid to buy the biggest mixed martial arts business in the world is said to be chinese-based conglomerate dalian wanda group, sources said. Its chairman, wang jianlin, is the richest man in china, worth nearly $35 billion, according to forbes magazine.

edit: Update:

Click to read more...

 

[Spawn]

Would be very interesting to see if Dana White would stick around if the UFC was sold. Or if whoever bought the company would want him to stick around.

 

[Avs_19]

Would be very interesting to see if Dana White would stick around if the UFC was sold. Or if whoever bought the company would want him to stick around.

Yeah, that'll be interesting. I could see the case for both sides of it, the new owners wanting him to stay or them wanting him gone.

These rumours have been around for a few years now and nothing has happened so maybe it'll be the same this time.

 

[PBandJ]

Good, sack Dana White and bring in a more professional President.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Good, sack Dana White and bring in a more professional President.

The UFC needs Dana

 

[TerminatorBlue]

Isn't Dana part owner? Rumors floating around that he stands to make around 200 million dollars from it.

I think you will see the Fertitta's go hard after a pro football team.

 

[PBandJ]

The UFC needs Dana

The UFC needs a guy who constantly insults media members and his fighters as much as I need herpes.

 

[TerminatorBlue]

The UFC needs a guy who constantly insults media members and his fighters as much as I need herpes.

These days Dana isn't even that much involved with UFC ...he doesn't do scrums anymore, hardly does post press conferences. He usually just gets up for big events like UFC 200 or to way in on issues like Conor Mcgregor.

Besides being president Dana reminds me of Don Cherry, people just like to listen to hear him run his mouth.

 

[ck26]

I'll feel much better watching illegal streams knowing a Chinese guy owns the UFC #irony

 

[Ensane]

Say what you will about White and the Fertitas, but they're legitimate fight fans. It will be interesting to see how things change if the buyer is an entity solely concerned about line items in the budget. I suspect this could lead to higher prices across the board.

 

[m9]

I don't care who owns it, I just care about the business model. The Fox deal is up soon, are they going to continue with that or go all-in on Fight Pass?

 

[Avs_19]

Dana denies the report (obviously) but he also said they're working on deals to expand into new markets. New rumour is they might be selling a portion of it like they did a few years back but still being the ones with the majority share. Selling to one of those big Chinese investors might get them into mainland China.

I don't care who owns it, I just care about the business model. The Fox deal is up soon, are they going to continue with that or go all-in on Fight Pass?

Doesn't it seem like they might be trying to set up for a Fox vs ESPN bidding war for the rights? They're doing more stuff with ESPN than ever before with interviews, pre/post fight stuff, breaking news, etc.

It probably won't happen anytime soon but at some point I wouldn't mind all of their content just being on Fight Pass.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

The UFC needs a guy who constantly insults media members and his fighters as much as I need herpes.

Like it or not without Dana white the UFC wouldn't be where it is today

 

[m9]

Dana denies the report (obviously) but he also said they're working on deals to expand into new markets. New rumour is they might be selling a portion of it like they did a few years back but still being the ones with the majority share. Selling to one of those big Chinese investors might get them into mainland China.



Doesn't it seem like they might be trying to set up for a Fox vs ESPN bidding war for the rights? They're doing more stuff with ESPN than ever before with interviews, pre/post fight stuff, breaking news, etc.

It probably won't happen anytime soon but at some point I wouldn't mind all of their content just being on Fight Pass.

I haven't noticed anything different between the ESPN/UFC relationship recently. But booking Cejudo and Benevidez for the next TUF tells you all you need to make about how much the UFC cares about making Fox happy.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Dana denies the report (obviously) but he also said they're working on deals to expand into new markets. New rumour is they might be selling a portion of it like they did a few years back but still being the ones with the majority share. Selling to one of those big Chinese investors might get them into mainland China.



Doesn't it seem like they might be trying to set up for a Fox vs ESPN bidding war for the rights? They're doing more stuff with ESPN than ever before with interviews, pre/post fight stuff, breaking news, etc.

It probably won't happen anytime soon but at some point I wouldn't mind all of their content just being on Fight Pass.

That's an awful idea not everyone has fight pass

 

[Avs_19]

That's an awful idea not everyone has fight pass

You wouldn't pay for it if all of their content, including PPVs, was on there?

I don't think it would happen but I'd be fine with it if it saved me money overall.

 

[Rocko604]

You wouldn't pay for it if all of their content, including PPVs, was on there?

I don't think it would happen but I'd be fine with it if it saved me money overall.

Did they recently start charging it in US dollars for everyone? Could have sworn when I had my free trial I would have been paying in Canadian.

 

[Avs_19]

Did they recently start charging it in US dollars for everyone? Could have sworn when I had my free trial I would have been paying in Canadian.

I don't think so. I just paid my bill the other day and it was still $9.99 for Fight Pass.

 

[Rocko604]

I don't think so. I just paid my bill the other day and it was still $9.99 for Fight Pass.

Maybe you're grandfathered? On the website it specifically states USD, even on UFC.ca

Oh well.

 

[kurt]

Rumours swirling that Zuffa accepted a bid of $4.2 billion, from WME-IMG/Dalian Wanda/Kraft Group/Tencent Holdings.

Sounds like it's for 100% of the company.

 

[Rocko604]

Correct me if I'm wrong because I haven't really read up on the people involved with this group, but the majority owner would be Chinese, correct? If so, I'm curious if we'd see more events shift Macau and Mainland China?

 

[Gene Parmesan]

No IMG would the majority owner I think. They are from Beverly Hills.

2 million dollars to 4.2 billion.

 

[The Kingslayer]

No IMG would the majority owner I think. They are from Beverly Hills.

2 million dollars to 4.2 billion.

Not bad.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Who knows how much they put into it and it took them years to turn a profit.

 

[Ensane]

Who knows how much they put into it and it took them years to turn a profit.

Also, I believe the company's had additional investors. They surely made a boatload of money from their initial investments, but the company grew so much so quickly that a massive infusion of capital was certainly required somewhere along the way.