The board of World Wrestling Entertainment is investigating longtime chairman / CEO Vince McMahon for previously undisclosed settlement agreements with former employees. These include a $ 3 million reward to an employee with whom he allegedly had an affair, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
McMahon is the majority shareholder in the Class B shares of the listed company, which give him overwhelming voting power. In addition, the board has several members of his family.
The board’s investigation began in April, the WSJ report says. The employee, who received the $ 3 million deal, had a consensual relationship with McMahon, who used personal funds for the reward.
However, the board’s investigation has uncovered other older confidentiality agreements involving claims by former WWE employees against McMahon and one of its top executives, John Laurinaitis, WWE’s head of talent relations, the WSJ. He was unable to put a number on the settlement count, but said it was in the millions of dollars. The WSJ said the board believes all settlements came from McMahon’s personal funds, including the only deal involving laurinaitis.
The New York-based law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is leading the investigation, the WSJ reported. As part of the research, the company is also evaluating WWE compliance and human resource programs and company culture.
In a letter to The Wall Street Journal, McMahon’s attorney, Jerry McDevitt, claimed that the woman who received the $ 3 million deal was a former paralegal and had not filed any harassment claims against McMahon.
WWE is a wrestling entertainment power that recorded record revenue of $ 1.1 billion last year. It has a five-year exclusive agreement with NBCUniversal’s $ 1 billion Peacock streaming platform, and also has licensing agreements with NBCUniversal and Fox. It also has an international agreement with Disney Plus Hotstar in Indonesia.
Fox broadcasts WWE Friday Night SmackDown, while Hulu broadcasts WWE’s Monday Night Raw, which has a deal that will expire this year.