The WWE has not made the smartest decisions over the past two years. So, it is evident to ask the question, how much of those decisions are down to Vince McMahon? To answer that question, let us take a look at how much power Vince has within the company.
Is He Still the Most Powerful Man Within the WWE?
WWE ownership and voting power as of Mar 2019, based on WWE's proxy statement released yesterday. Vince McMahon owns 41% of shares and 83% of voting power. Class B family shares give him 10x voting power versus Class A shares.
See p. 37: https://t.co/02zuYegudl pic.twitter.com/bAGJd0dWCj— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) March 6, 2019
Vince is without a doubt the most powerful man in the WWE. To put things into perspective, Vince McMahon owns 40.9% of the WWE. Stephanie McMahon has 2.5%, and Vince’s wife Linda has 0.7%. Now you may say that 40.9% is not the majority, it actually is. To understand how it works, we need to talk about class class A and class B shares.
Vincent McMahon owns a large percentage of class B shares as opposed to the lesser value class A shares. Class B shares are worth ten times the voting power compared to class A shares; this gives Vince an estimated voting power of 82.5%.
High Voting Power With No Contention
When you look at the voting power Vince has, it is clear that his colleagues in the board of directors have little sway where voting is concerned. When major decisions are made, Vince’s word is still the one that rings the strongest.
Of course, the poor decisions made by the WWE should not all be attributed to Vince McMahon. The WWE is a big company to run and there are lots of smaller departments responsible for the product we see on our television screens. You have the match agents, producers, and even creative writers that all contribute to the product. Vince may decide on the ideas that go through and the ones that do not. But the ideas are not coming from Vince alone.
Looking at things from a corporate perspective, there are some problems in each of the departments contributing to the WWE’s product. WWE creative would be one of the first departments I would tackle. A lot of the creative aspect of the WWE has been slumping. I would also look at match bookings. Some have made zero sense and frankly were some of the poorest bookings in WWE history.
So, how much is Vince McMahon responsible for? Well, it is his company to run, unfortunately, so the end blame will always fall down to him. Maybe he needs a little more oversight on the smaller departments in his company to ensure a better product on our television screens?
Want the latest news on WWE? Sign up for the Ringside Intel newsletter for more information!
More About:Sports