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UFC Parent Company Endeavor Launches IPO, Opens at $24 Per Share
April 29, 2021
UFC ownership company Endeavor launched an initial public offering Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.
UFC President Dana White tweeted the following regarding the landmark day for Endeavor:
According to ESPN's Brett Okamoto, Endeavor began trading at $24 per share. Endeavor initially purchased 50.1 percent of UFC from Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta for $4 billion in 2016 but is in the process of purchasing the remainder of the promotion as well, per the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Endeavor, which also owns the Professional Bull Riders tour and Miss Universe, planned to go public in 2019, but decided against it due to low demand at the time, according to Okamoto.
Okamoto also reported that Endeavor filed losses of $625 million on $3.5 billion in revenue to the SEC in 2020.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Endeavor was unable to have live fans for its events through most of 2020, including UFC. Even so, UFC continued to put on events in an effort to generate revenue through pay-per-view buys.
UFC had a two-month break in between events from March through May, but it returned to action with UFC 249 on May 9, 2020.
The bulk of UFC's events in 2020 were held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi with no fans present, though three events in January had less than 3,000 spectators in attendance.
UFC welcomed fans back at full capacity last weekend for UFC 261 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Over 15,000 spectators were on hand to witness one of the best UFC events in recent memory.
In the three headline fights, Valentina Shevchenko beat Jessica Andrade by second-round technical knockout to retain the UFC women's flyweight title, Rose Namajunas beat Zhang Weili by first-round knockout to win the UFC women's strawweight title and Kamaru Usman knocked Jorge Masvidal in the second round to retain the UFC welterweight title.