Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President, Dana White, believed that having the world’s preeminent mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion become a publicly-traded company was a bad idea.
It would appear Ari Emanuel does not agree.
The Endeavor head cheese set the initial public offering (IPO) for this Friday (Sept. 27) with 19.35 million available shares expected to move at $30-32 per unit, giving Emanuel and Co. a little over $600 million to combat debt and other misc. operating expenses.
That’s according to a report from Variety.
“As the entertainment industry moves toward a closed ecosystem model with less transparency, our clients and businesses need more insight, resources and solutions than ever before,” Emanuel said. “We believe being a public company will only further accelerate our ability to look around corners and open up new categories and opportunities for those in the Endeavor network.”
Endeavor paid a staggering $4 billion for UFC back in summer 2016 (details here), though White — who will be sticking around for the foreseeable future — claims the promotion is now worth $7 billion after inking a longterm broadcast deal with ESPN.
Endeavor will be traded under the symbol “EDR.”