Tony Khan has opened up about the details of his $6.9 billion bid to purchase WWE in 2023, revealing that he was working with far less information than other bidders and understood why he was ultimately excluded from the deeper stages of the process. Speaking on the pre-AEW Dynasty media call on Thursday, Khan described the experience candidly.
“Based on the information I had to put a bid together, I basically had the same market information everyone else had, which is why the bid I made was very close to the stock market price. I had no more information than the rest of the public, no data room access or anything, and I’m sure that’s why they all made it further in the process than I did. As to what happened after my involvement in it, I can’t say with the other three parties, but I understood why they wouldn’t want to give me data room access,” Khan said.
Tony Khan Says He Would Have Kicked Himself If He Hadn’t Made an Attempt to Buy WWE in 2023
Despite the long-shot nature of the bid, Khan framed his decision to submit it as something he felt compelled to do given the circumstances. He noted that several major free agency pursuits were happening simultaneously — including Kazuchika Okada, Mercedes Mone, and Will Ospreay — and that the opportunity to consider purchasing WWE was something he never imagined would be possible when he launched AEW seven years ago. “I would have kicked myself if I hadn’t gotten involved. We never even gotten close to considering that. But knowing what was happening in the world of wrestling, I think it made sense for me to do the things that I did there.”
