Jake Paul announces he’s invested in UFC parent company Endeavor

The social media sensation turned pro boxer now owns Endeavor stock.

Why yes, it’s yet another story involving Jake Paul and the UFC, but this time it’s a little different.

Paul and his business partner Geoffrey Woo announced on social media on Tuesday that he’s invested in Endeavor, the UFC’s parent company.

Endeavor acquired the UFC for $4 billion back in 2016, but only became a publicly traded company last year. Paul and UFC president Dana White have been trading verbal shots for seemingly months, with Paul recently declaring that he’d retire from boxing if White and the UFC increased fighter pay, revnue sharing, and “long term healthcare” for its athletes. Just last week, White didn’t rule out potentially having Jake Paul in the UFC.

Getting back to the investment in Endeavor stock from Jake Paul, here’s what Geoffrey Woo wrote in a series of follow-up tweets.

“My partner Jake has lead the way in changing the business of combat sports by not just talking about it, but being about it — fighter pay, healthcare, & championing women’s sport. And today is our next step in our vision of revolutionizing the industry,” he said.

“UFC has faced a rising chorus of criticism for the exploitation of its athletes — the [heart] of biz. The ratio of revenue going to athletes vs. owners & leagues is well below industry standard. This disparity hurts long-term shareholder value & this is not going to magically change.

“Jake is the archetype of the future, where individual transcends the machine. This is happening across all sectors — media, entertainment, & tech start ups where dynamic, innovative individuals & creators are bargaining toe-to-toe w the owners, the institutions, and the academy.

“We believe the best way to accelerate this inevitable revolution is to lead it from within the UFC as co-owners & impact investors. We will use our investment stake to rally fans, athletes, fellow shareholders, and management to do the right thing.

“Who am I? I come from Silicon Valley & web3/crypto. Skin in the game, shared equity, and long-term alignment is the underlying incentive model that made Silicon Valley and crypto the most impactful business models of the last 20 years. We intend to apply these models to the UFC.

“I invite likeminded shareholders, our Board, our largest institutional to the smallest individual owners of EDR / UFC to join Jake, Anti Fund, and I to drive management change to upgrade sport culture, whilst capturing outsized long-term equity value.”

Not all stock is on equal footing, so does this mean Paul and his business partners are about to shake-up the UFC as we know it and have major input in the promotion’s business decisions? We’ll let Bloody Elbow business analyst John Nash sum this up to close out the article.