World Wrestling Entertainment Buys Back NBC Stake
Submitted by Calvin Martin on Monday, May 20, 2002 at 12:42 PM EST



World Wrestling Entertainment Buys Back NBC Stake

NEW YORK (Reuters) - World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., with wrestling stars including The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, said on Monday it bought back the NBC television network's 3 percent stake for $27.7 million, or $12 a share.

NBC bought its stake in World Wrestling in 2000, when the two companies formed the now-defunct XFL football league, which was announced with much fanfare but body-slammed by anemic ratings. NBC's sale of its stake represents the final unwinding of the joint venture.

"When NBC got involved, it was when we were putting together the XFL," said World Wrestling spokesman Gary Davis. "Now that the XFL is no more, the two companies are going their separate ways."

NBC, for its part, downplayed the XFL's fate as a reason for selling off its stake. "We are trying to realign our capital and make strategic investments where we would have operating control," spokeswoman Hilary Smith said. "We don't want to be in the business of portfolio management."

The Stamford, Connecticut, company -- which recently changed its name from World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. and dropped the "WWF" monogram after losing a legal match with World Wildlife Fund over the initials -- bought back the shares at a 21 percent discount to Friday's close at $15.21.

World Wrestling shares fell 13 cents to $15.08 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. NBC is a unit of blue chip conglomerate General Electric Co.

Credit: Yahoo! News. Thanks to Chris Adams for his help!








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