WWE Stock Price Rises Following Vince McMahon Retirement

On the first day of trading since Vince McMahon's retirement from WWE, the company's stock price rose 8.44% on Monday, increasing from $66.22 at the close of trading on Friday to $71.81 by close of business yesterday. This is WWE's highest stock price since 2019 and the organisation is now valued at $5.34 billion. 

The stock price rise was triggered by the view that WWE is more likely to be sold following Vince McMahon's departure. Longtime analyst Alan Gould of Loop Capital upgraded his rating for WWE from hold to buy on Monday and he mentioned Comcast, Disney, Amazon, and Netflix as companies that could potentially buy WWE. 

"This is a challenging environment with the equities of most of the logical buyers depressed, but there is demand for live event programming, and it is the first time that one could realistically think that WWE could be for sale," Gould told Variety.

Vince McMahon announced his retirement on Friday, July 22, and it has since been reported by the Wall Street Journal that the 76-year-old's exit was hastened by the SEC and federal prosecutors opening investigations into hush payments made by the now-former WWE Chairman to "suppress allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity."

Vince remains majority shareholder following his retirement, while Stephanie McMahon is Chairwoman and a Co-CEO with Nick Khan. Paul "Triple H" Levesque is the new head of WWE creative.