TKO Emphasizes Merging the UFC and WWE Global Partnership teams

TKO issued the following information:

TKO Merges UFC(r) and WWE(r) Global Partnerships Teams to Create Sports Marketing Powerhouse

01/04/2024

The Combined Unit will offer Blue-Chip Brands Unprecedented Integration in Two of the world’s most Iconic Sports and Entertainment Properties

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE) — TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO) an elite entertainment and sports business today announced that it has merged its UFC as well as the WWE global partnerships teams into one entity giving brands an access point to the strongest sports marketing portfolios anywhere in the world.

UFC and WWE together, who collectively have more than a billion fans who are young and diverse across 170 countries, give brand partners with unparalleled size and reach across a variety of platforms which include premium live events as well as original content as well as digital and physical media. In addition, powered with their Endeavor flywheel, which is part of the global network of the company that includes IMG’s highly productive sales teams throughout the world, UFC and WWE together can provide marketers with an extensive option, significantly more brand awareness, an extensive global reach, and exclusive integration opportunities with UFC and WWE premium content.

Grant Norris-Jones who played a major part in bringing UFC’s partnerships across the globe to six straight years of record-setting revenues, has been promoted to head the unit’s integrated division as the Executive Vice President, and the Head of Global Partnerships for TKO, which encompasses all UFC as well as WWE properties. Norris-Jones is working with Lou Koskovolis, who is also taking on a new job as TKO’s Executive Vice president for Global Partnerships. They will concentrate on creating exclusive, authentic integrations to our corporate partners at TKO. The new partnership will also benefit from further assistance and cooperation along with Endeavor Partnerships team to maximize brand value across the Endeavor collection of properties.

With activations, sales and operational teams in New York, Las Vegas, Stamford, Conn., London, Sao Paulo, Sydney, Shanghai, and Toronto the newly merged unit will concentrate on creating new revenue streams and branding integrations with WWE and UFC’s most watched live events as well as original programming.

“Since Endeavor acquired UFC in 2016, UFC’s global partnerships business has become a significant growth area,” stated Andrew Schleimer, Chief Financial Officer, TKO, “and we believe that WWE’s partnership business has similar potential. When combined, UFC and WWE create a powerful sports marketing platform with thousands of events live each year and a global reach comparable to, or even better than the top sports properties. The newly integrated Global Partnerships team is set to give top brands the chance to be integrated and activated within WWE and UFC’s extremely popular content to connect with their vast fan bases across the globe.”

In recent times, UFC has partnered with brands that are consumer-oriented as well as category-leading, such as Anheuser-Busch, Crypto.com, DraftKings, Jose Cuervo, Monster Energy, PRIME Hydration, Timex and VeChain.

Additionally, WWE has worked with numerous blue-chip companies across its promotional assets. In the last few years, WWE was able to work its partnership Applebee’s, General Mills, Mattel, Netflix, PepsiCo, Pizza Hut, Slim Jim and Snickers.

About TKO

TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO) is a premier entertainment and sports business which comprises UFC the world’s top mixed martial arts organisation and WWE as an integrated media group and a recognized top sports entertainment organization. Together, we are able to reach more than a billion television viewers in around 170 countries. We host hundreds of live shows each year with over a million people. TKO is owned in majority by Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EDR) which is a leading global entertainment and sports business.

About UFC(r)

UFC(r) is considered to be the most prestigious mixed martial arts organisation (MMA) and has over 700 million followers and more than 243 million followers on social media. The UFC hosts over 40 events live per year in the most famous arenas in the globe, while broadcasting to more than 900 million TV households in more than 170 nations. The UFC’s roster of athletes includes the best MMA athletes from more than 80 nations. UFC’s digital services include UFC FIGHT PASS(r) which is one of the top streaming options for fight sports. UFC belongs to TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO) and has its headquarters at Las Vegas, Nevada. For more information, go to UFC.com as well as follow UFC on Facebook.com/UFC as well as @UFC in X, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok UFC: @UFC.

About WWE(r)

WWE is a which is part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO) is a media company that integrates and is a globally recognized top sports entertainment provider. The company comprises an array of businesses that produce and provide unique content throughout the year to an international audience. WWE will provide providing family-friendly entertainment through its TV programming as well as live events of the highest quality as well as digital media and publishing platforms. The TV-PG content of WWE can be enjoyed in more than a billion homes across 25 languages with top distribution partners like NBCUniversal, FOX Sports, TNT Sport, Sony India and Rogers. The multi-award-winning WWE Network includes all premium live events as well as scheduled programming, and an extensive library of video-on-demand and is available across more than 180 nations. For the United States, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, is the sole home of the WWE Network. More information about WWE is available at wwe.com or corporate.wwe.com.