Tony Khan Tried To Buy WWE In 2023, Made $6.9 Billion Bid

Tony Khan legitimately attempted to buy WWE while the company was up for sale in early 2023, it has been revealed.

WWE was put up for sale in January 2023 after Vince McMahon forced his way back into the company, with a deal with Endeavor ultimately being announced in April of that year, one day after WrestleMania 39, which resulted in WWE and UFC merging in September 2023 under TKO Group Holdings in a 51/49 all-stock deal between Endeavor and WWE shareholders.

Khan repeatedly stated his interest in bidding for WWE in early 2023, noting that he was "very much" interested in attempting to purchase All Elite Wrestling's biggest competitor. These weren't just empty words, however, as court filings obtained by POST Wrestling's Brandon Thurston have revealed that Base 10, a company backed by Tony Khan, offered $76.83 per share for WWE.

This was by far the lowest of the four offers that were made for WWE. Along with Endeavor, the owners of Formula One, Liberty Media, and private equity firm KKR bid for WWE. Liberty Media's offer was between $95 and $100 per share, while KKR's offer was between $90 and $97.50 per share in offers that would have converted WWE's shares to cash. Endeavor's winning bid was an all-stock deal valued at $95.66 per share before synergies, essentially just converting WWE shares to TKO shares. The share price of TKO as of March 2026 is trading for around $200 per share, double the price that WWE was sold for when the merger was completed in September 2023.

When converted to a company value, Base 10's offer was $6.9 billion, KKR's bid was between $8 billion and $8.7 billion, Liberty Media's offer was between $8.5 billion and $8.9 billion, and Endeavor's deal on the table was $8.5 billion.

Base 10 was formed in 2014 and Tony Khan is the sole officer of the organisation, with the company's address listed at the stadium for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL team owned by the Khan family. This is a different organisation from Beatnik Investments LLC, the parent company of All Elite Wrestling, with Tony Khan and his sister Shanna Khan as the only authorised members. Thomas Clarkson, meanwhile, is an authorised representative for the organisation. Warner Bros. Discovery also hold a minority stake in AEW at under 10 per cent of the organisation.

Tony Khan's bid for WWE came to light due to a shareholder lawsuit filed in November 2023 which alleges that the merger process was unfair and that Endeavor was preselected by Vince McMahon as Ari Emanuel assured McMahon's future with WWE. It is also alleged that competing offers from Liberty Media and KKR were not allowed to develop, which prevented a competitive process from emerging over the purchase of WWE.

Defendants in the lawsuit are Vince McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul "Triple H" Levesque, George Barrios, and Michelle Wilson. The lawsuit is set to go to trial in June.