About three months ago, the UFC was sold for $4 billion to the William Morris Endeavor-International Management Group. The sale represented the largest transaction in the history of sports, and WME-IMG is really banking on the UFC becoming significantly bigger than it already is by forking over all that dough. Only time will tell if it was truly worth it.
Very late Thursday night, the Wall Street Journal revealed that when WME-IMG made the UFC purchase, they also brought in a bunch of celebrity investors to give the brand a boost. For the low, low cost of just $250,000, 23 celebs—including quite a few WME-IMG clients—were allowed to buy into the UFC and purchase a small stake in the company.
The celebs range from actors and comedians to pro athletes and musicians. Here is the full list:
- Ben Affleck
- Michael Bay
- Tom Brady
- Rob Dyrdek
- Guy Fieri
- Flea
- Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye
- Calvin Harris
- Anthony Kiedis
- Jimmy Kimmel
- Robert Kraft
- Adam Levine
- Li Na
- LL Cool J
- Cam Newton
- Conan O’Brien
- Trey Parker
- Tyler Perry
- Maria Sharapova
- Sylvester Stallone
- Mark Wahlberg
- Serena Williams
- Venus Williams
WME-IMG CEO Ari Emanuel told the WSJ that most of the celebrity investors are longtime fans of the UFC. "They would always ask for tickets," he said.
Most of the celebs are yet to comment publicly on their investments, but on his show on Thursday night, Conan O'Brien turned the news about him becoming a part owner of the UFC into a hilarious four-minute segment. You can check it out below:
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