Tony Khan’s company, Base 10, submitted a bid to acquire WWE when the promotion was put up for sale in 2023, according to court filings related to the ongoing shareholder lawsuit, obtained by Wrestlenomics and Post Wrestling’s Brandon Thurston. The bid, valued at approximately $6.9 billion, was the lowest of four offers submitted during the merger and acquisition process, which Endeavor ultimately won, creating TKO Group Holdings.
The shareholder class action lawsuit was originally filed in the Delaware Chancery Court in November 2023, and recently, unpublished versions of the complaint and the defendants’ legal responses became public for the first time. While KKR and Liberty Media were identified as bidders in prior reporting and public filings, these documents mark the first time Base 10’s participation is publicly confirmed.
The filing describes Base 10’s direct connection to AEW, stating that the company “owns All Elite Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion that will clearly enjoy significant synergy with WWE.” Although Tony Khan is not named in the complaint, a connection between Base 10 and Khan has been established through multiple public records.
Florida business records show that BASE10, Inc. was incorporated in 2014, listing Khan as its sole officer, and the company address was registered to the stadium for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL team his family owns. When Khan acquired sports analytics firm TruMedia Networks in 2015, he was quoted in the Sports Business Journal, directly referencing the formation of Base 10.
The four bids submitted during the sale process were as follows. Base 10 offered $76.83 per share, meaning the company’s full valuation is about $6.9 billion. KKR offered a range between $90 and $97.50 per share, representing a valuation of approximately $8.0 billion to $8.7 billion. Liberty Media’s bid was between $95 and $100 per share, totaling about $8.5 billion to $8.9 billion. Endeavor’s winning offer was an all-stock deal worth $95.66 per share before synergy. TKO’s share price has since risen to nearly $200, effectively doubling the 2023 bid prices.
Base 10’s offer was noted in WWE’s regulatory filing – where it was unnamed as “Strategic Party 2” – requiring equity and debt financing partners to complete the transaction. The three high bids from Endeavor, KKR and Liberty were strong enough to grant those parties access to a data room containing non-public WWE information, which is a standard step in acquisition processes. There is no indication in the available filings that any representative of Base 10 or Khan’s company was granted similar access, possibly because its offer was the lowest of the four.
Plaintiffs in the shareholder lawsuit allege that the sale process was unfair and that Endeavor was effectively preselected by Vince McMahon because Endeavor’s chief executive, Ari Emanuel, had assured McMahon of McMahon’s continued future with the company. The defendants deny that allegation.
Defendants in the case include McMahon, WWE President Nick Khan, Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque and former board members Jorge Barrios and Michelle Wilson. McMahon resigned from all roles in WWE and TKO in January 2024 after former employee Janel Grant filed a sex trafficking lawsuit against him, which he denies. That case is pending in federal court in Connecticut.
Unpublished versions of the court documents were filed publicly after a challenge to their confidential treatment was submitted under Delaware Chancery Court rules. KKR proposed to keep some information sealed, but Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster ruled against that attempt. The merger case is currently scheduled to be heard in June.
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