LogFAQs > #940731846

Okay, reading into this further now. Running points as I go through it. I'm actually somewhat knowledgeable on this much of the law, but nothing close to an expert on it.

- WWE is being sued by shareholders in a class action suit because, in simple terms, they lied or misled shareholders about information that would have impacted their decisions. This is very illegal for obvious reasons.
- It appears this is mostly because of Saudi Arabia, where they were dishonest about how close they were to renewing a TV deal there and outright lied to the investors about the renewal, which they knew wasn't going to happen when they made that statement, and they in fact signed an early cancellation with the network months before then. (Super, super illegal and dishonest)
- Further to this, Vince McMahon sold shares before revealing their very disappointing first quarter numbers which, while not outright illegal, is incredibly questionable given the dishonesty beforehand. He also did this while the company continued to tell shareholders that a renewal was still in the works with that Saudi network.
- When they did finally reveal the deal was dead several months after they had already cancelled the deal, they claimed that they were talking with the Saudi government about a big TV deal and they were "very close" to sealing it.
- This is around the time that WWE and Saudi had payment issues. An anonymous employee working for the Saudi TV station (wanting to stay anonymous so their government doesn't find out I guess), stated that WWE was blowing major smoke up their ass with ridiculous expectations for the dollar amount on the contract and how much viewership they would bring. WWE thinks they'd get 100 million people watching in the middle east and the company said 6.5 million was more expected. WWE wanted $80 million, and to be nice, they offered $15 million instead. WWE tried to settle for $50 million, and then the company said they refuse to go over $14.5 million. (I wasn't going to put these numbers but they were so fucking ridiculous I had to.) This is while they were claiming a deal was close to being made.
- They claimed they were close to a deal before the Crown Jewel PPV with the infamous hostage situation. Definitely not Scott Dawson confirms all the rumors under oath with more information. A stewardess said it seems like they don't want them to leave the country. The pilot was "distressed" when he announced they couldn't take off. Guards with big guns and black clothes were staring at them at the exits. He asked noted Diva Creep and Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano who told mystery wrestler that there's a dispute over the Saudi Prince not paying him, so they're refusing to let them leave and that the Prince was "very mad" when Vince cut the feed to the show as a result. All under oath, so... loldirtsheets still?
- WWE did not disclose with shareholders that the Saudi government neglected to pay WWE as well, and apparently they've always been slow to pay WWE which was also not disclosed.
- They finally started to admit the payment issues and the failure to secure the network in February 2020, which is entirely too late and quite dishonest given everything, and their stock plummeted. But the inference is that people would have sold if they knew about this earlier.
-This summarizes the main issue super well actually, and it's why I think they aren't getting out of this without a hefty settlement.

29. Moreover, unbeknownst to investors, during the Class Period, Defendants McMahon, Barrios, and Wilson had been heavily selling WWE stock in unusual and suspicious amounts totaling more than $280 million (Defendant McMahons stock sales amounted to an increase of more than 1000% during the Class Periodfrom $22.9 million during the Control Period to $261 million during the Class Period) while in possession of material non-public information regarding, among other things, the early termination of the Companys media rights agreement in its MENA region (which was known in November 2018), delays in finding and finalizing an agreement with a new media rights partner in the MENA region, and growing tensions among WWE and the Saudis over late payments for live events.

- George Barrios and Michelle Wilson left the company right before February 2020, and they are being framed as the main people peddling these lies during stockholder meetings. (I imagine part of why they left was because they could see the writing on the wall before they had to announce the failure to secure a Saudi TV deal and the issues on payments with Saudi Arabia at the Feb 2020 stockholder meeting)
- This was just funny.

50. Thus, the jig has been up for a while. While the matches are choreographed and storylines scripted, the wrestlers rarely break character and the fans suspend their disbeliefa practice known in the industry as kayfabe, which refers to the portrayal of events in the wrestling industry as real and not staged (or worked), and wrestling fans knowingly buy in to the charade.

- They call the fuck out of WWE for the backlash they got about no women competing at first at Saudi events. And then later people calling them out for going after they murdered that journalist. I'd imagine this was done to explain that this company is awful.
- Wait, how did they get away with claiming live attendance numbers were growing?

122. For example, despite how Defendants characterized the following chart33 included in the presentation associated with its fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 resultsit is clear that average attendance at its live events has been steadily decreasing since 2015, and that total attendance decreased in 2018.

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