WWE said that its board of directors unanimously elected Vince McMahon executive chairman of the board.

Last week, the wrestling company announced that it would explore “strategic alternatives,” indicating the company could be for sale.

McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon has resigned as chairwoman and co-CEO of WWE. Nick Khan, who had been co-CEO, will serve as CEO.

Last year, Vince McMahon retired as chairman and CEO of WWE in the wake of investigations into payments made to a former WWE employee with whom McMahon allegedly had an affair. 

McMahon last week returned to the board, bringing two other directors with him and removing three directions using his power as controlling shareholder of the company. Two other directors resigned.

“First, I’d like to express my full support for Stephanie’s personal decision. I’ll forever be grateful that she offered to step in during my absence and I’m truly proud of the job she did co-leading WWE,“ Vince McMahon said. “Stephanie has always been the ultimate ambassador for our company, and her decades of contributions have left an immeasurable impact on our brand.

“I’m proud to announce that Nick Khan will serve as WWE CEO. Nick’s business acumen and mastery of the media industry have helped catapult our business to record revenue and profitability. Together, we look forward to working with the Board at this critical moment in time to review our strategic alternatives and maximize value for all WWE shareholders,” McMahon said.

WWE stock jumped after McMahon’s return and the announcement that the company would explore strategic alternatives. WWE shares hit a 52-week high on Tuesday and closed at $90.24, up 2.73%. 

“Stephanie McMahon is a terrific executive and an even better person. It has been an honor to serve as Co-CEO with her. She will only continue to succeed,” Khan said. “I’m grateful to Vince McMahon and our Board of Directors for their ongoing support. I look forward to continuing to work closely with them and my WWE colleagues to ensure our company may thrive as the premiere powerhouse in sports entertainment for years to come.” ■

Wrestling titan Vince McMahon on Friday announced his retirement as chairman and CEO of WWE. McMahon had “stepped back” from his executive responsibilities last month while charges of misconduct were being investigated.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the board was looking into a secret $3 million settlement McMahon agreed to pay to a departing employee with whom he allegedly had an affair.

Also: WWE Reviews Financial Reports to Reflect Payments By McMahon

When McMahon stepped back, his daughter Stephanie McMahon became interim CEO and chairman. She will serve as chairman and co-CEO now that Vince McMahon has retired. Nick Khan will also be co-CEO.

Earlier on Friday, Stephanie McMahon's husband, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, said he would be resuming his executive position as executive VP of talent relations.

After stepping back, McMahon continued to work on WWE’s content and appeared on Smackdown on Fox. A WWE spokesman Friday said that McMahon is now “fully retired” from the company. 

“As I approach 77 years old, I feel it’s time for me to retire as Chairman and CEO of WWE. Throughout the years, it’s been a privilege to help WWE bring you joy, inspire you, thrill you, surprise you, and always entertain you. I would like to thank my family for mightily contributing to our success, and I would also like to thank all of our past and present Superstars and employees for their dedication and passion for our brand,” McMahon said in a statement. “Most importantly, I would like to thank our fans for allowing us into your homes every week and being your choice of entertainment.”

While he said the company was in capable hands with his daughter and Khan, “as the majority shareholder, I will continue to support WWE in any way I can. My personal thanks to our community and business partners, shareholders, and board of directors for their guidance and support through the years. Then. Now. Forever. Together.”  ■

WWE’s board said Vince McMahon has “stepped back” from his responsibilities as CEO and chairman of the company while charges of misconduct are investigated and that Stephanie McMahon will serve as interim CEO and chairman.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the board was looking into a secret $3 million settlement McMahon agreed to pay to a departing employee with whom he allegedly had an affair.

“I have pledged my complete cooperation to the investigation by the Special Committee, and I will do everything possible to support the investigation. I have also pledged to accept the findings and outcome of the investigation, whatever they are,” Vince McMahon said in a statement.

The board said it was investigating McMahon and John Laurinaitis, head of talent relations at WWE. McMahon will retain his role and responsibilities related to WWE’s creative content. WWE said McMahon will appear on Smackdown Friday night on Fox.

In May, McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon, said she was stepping down from her role as CMO of WWE along with her husband, the wrestler and executive Paul Levesque.

“I love this company and am committed to working with the Independent Directors to strengthen our culture and our Company," she said in a statement. “It is extremely important to me that we have a safe and collaborative workplace. I have committed to doing everything in my power to help the Special Committee complete its work, including marshaling the cooperation of the entire company to assist in the completion of the investigation and to implement its findings.” ■

WWE chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon has arguably replaced her entrepreneurial father Vince McMahon as the face of the brand.

She’s worked with key executives to help push WWE’s brand footprint outside the ring, fostering the move into reality series with E!’s Total Divas and spinoff series Total Bellas, as well as expanding into digital with the 2014 launch of WWE Network.

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Showing off its financial muscle, WWE reported a 10% increase in revenue during first-quarter 2017 compared to the prior year. Further, the company said it “continues to target record financial results for 2017, specifically adjusted operating income of $100 million.”

SVOD service WWE Nework now has nearly 1.5 million global subscribers, according to the company, up 16% from first-quarter 2016. USA Network’s weekly WWE Monday Night Raw remains one of the most-watched series on cable, averaging more than 3 million viewers so far this year, while the Tuesday-night series WWE SmackDown has posted strong rating gains since its move from Syfy last year.

Multichannel News programming editor. R. Thomas Umstead spoke with McMahon last week via phone from London — where she and WWE were preparing for live telecasts of the May 8 Monday Night Raw and May 9 SmackDown — to get an overview of the thriving business as well as the challenges and opportunities that WWE faces. Here’s an edited transcript of their conversation.

MCN:What has propelled WWE’s strong performance in 2016 and thus far in 2017?
Stephanie McMahon: First of all, we have, you know, one of the best executive teams that we have had in a very long time. When you consider the fact that the WWE has grown into a $729 million business, things are working for us.

Nearly 30% of that revenue came from our international business, so that means our international expansion is working. In 2010 nearly 30% of our business was direct-to-consumer, and today it’s more than 50 percent, so our direct-to-consumer strategy is certainly working. In 2010, 6% of our business was digital, and today it’s more than 30%, so again it’s our businesses itself and the people driving it. They are laser-focused on our different strategies for growth, whether that be content and our tiered ecosystem, or sales and sponsorship.

But ultimately the secret sauce is truly our fan base. Our fans cheer, they boo, they chant … they actually help influence what happens in the ring. A lot of what we do is improv, and that’s where the performance art aspect comes in. Without our fan base, we don’t have a show, and that’s one of the reasons why social media has been so strong for WWE. We have over 780 million social media followers, which means their engagement with us continues outside of the ring. From a business standpoint we’re able to utilize the data analytics that we get from the WWE Network, from social media, from live events and even from merchandise sales to help influence the direction of our content and super-serve our audience.

MCN:In which areas of the business do you see the most growth potential in 2017?
SM: We’re really focused on international and we’re focused on content because again we want to super-serve our fan base through localized content. I was in Dubai just last week, announcing our first ever Arabic local-language show. We’re here in the U.K., where we’re shooting Monday Night Raw and SmackDown live at the O2 in London, where we’re also shooting localized content that will ultimately drive viewership into our NXT Takeover [episode] featuring the U.K. championship. So it really is localized content super-serving our fanbase in as many ways possible, along with international growth.

MCN:Having said that, what are the greatest challenges facing the WWE going forward?
SM: Well, I think the opportunities are the same as the challenges. From a technology standpoint we want to be able to offer fans everything that they’re asking for, and the biggest frustration comes when the technology just isn’t there yet to do it. But we’re constantly driving and pushing our partners to help make sure that that happens. Again, serving the appetite of our audience is really our greatest opportunity as well as our greatest challenge, because the more we provide them the hungrier they get.

MCN:Are you concerned at all about competition within the wrestling category given the proliferation of pro-wrestling content in the marketplace?
SM: Well I think imitation is the truest form of flattery, but I don’t think the viewership with some of those other organizations at this point is competition for us. If anything I think it just drives more interest in the genre itself. When you look at reality shows like Total Divas or Total Bellas, and when you look at films like our partnership with MGM for [theatrical film] Fighting With My Family, the story of [WWE wrestler] Paige’s life, I think we’re really just scratching the surface of the deeper stories that these individuals, as well as their characters, have to tell.

STEPHANIE McMAHON

TITLE: Chief Brand Officer, WWE

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: McMahon worked her way up the WWE ranks from an account executive position and was most recently executive VP of creative.

QUOTE: “One of the company values that’s been instilled in us by my father [Vince McMahon] is to treat each day like it’s the first day on the job. What that really means is to challenge the status quo.”

— Stephanie McMahon

Stephanie McMahon isn’t a villain. But she plays one on WWE Monday Night Raw, one of the highest-rated — and longest-running — cable shows.

McMahon’s evil persona on the USA Network series is a telltale sign that she is vastly different than your standard entertainment executive. She holds the title chief brand officer at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which was founded by her parents.

Bonnie Hammer, chairman of NBCUniversal Cable Enter tainment and one of McMahon’s mentors, describes her this way: “She is first and foremost the daughter of one of the most physically big and professionally big guys in the world.” She refers to Vince McMahon, the chairman and CEO of WWE.

COVERING EVERY PART OF THE FAMILY BUSINESS

She also has a very big mandate. McMahon works with WWE’s business units to support key growth initiatives and, as global brand ambassador, represents the company among vital entities including government, advertisers, media, business partners and investors. She’s the primary spokesperson for WWE’s social-responsibility initiatives. And she’s a member of the company’s board.

McMahon works with her husband, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, a WWE wrestling star who also plays a villainous on-air character. He serves as WWE’s executive vice president of talent, live events and creative and is also a member of the company’s board.

The duo are jointly known as “The Authority” on Raw, but off -air, they’ve created a charitable fund called Connor’s Cure, which focuses on pediatric brain and spinal cancer research. It was named after a young WWE fan, Connor Michalek, who passed away from brain cancer. So far, the fund has raised close to $1 million.

A ‘GIVER’ AND A ‘DOER’

As a result of her humanitarian efforts, McMahon was asked to join the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation’s board of trustees. Greg Barrett, president of the foundation, said that McMahon is not only a giver; she’s a doer.

Despite her heavy workload and travel schedule, “she can still find time to figure out how to publicize things for us — whether it’s fundraising or research findings. She’s able to fly at 30,000 feet and also be boots on the ground,” Barrett said.

“She’s an incredibly savvy, smart woman in a very, very male world, dealing with some of the nicest people in the world, but also some big, physical people. And she holds her own,” added Hammer in speaking of McMahon’s work at WWE.

FOLLOWING IN HER MOTHER’S FOOTSTEPS

The nickname that her brother, Shane McMahon, gave her — the Vincess — hints at which parent she most resembles. But she is proud to be following in the footsteps of another Wonder Woman, her mother, Linda McMahon. In fact, they are the first mother-daughter Wonder Woman combo in the history of the honors.

Linda, the one-time CEO of WWE, helped build the company into the powerhouse that it is today, with 11 offices around the world and annual revenue of over $540 million. She left WWE in 2009 to turn her attention to politics.

Stephanie McMahon said that she always wanted to have a role at WWE. “My parents were working round the clock. And one of the ways that I could relate to them, or even just spend time with them, was by being a part of what they did,” she said.

“I also happen to love the [wrestling] genre. It is storytelling. It is no different than a movie. It just also happens to incorporate incredible action, with conflicts that are settled inside a ring,” McMahon added.

She’s set some big goals moving forward. “I help support every line of business in our company. And our goals for 2016 are mainly focused on growing our [over-the-top] network,” she said. That effort includes transmissions of WWE’s live special events on the Web and via traditional PPV.

“Growing that subscriber base is game-changing for our company. We are already generating more revenue from our subscription service than we ever did, even in the greatest years of our pay-per-view business.”

GREAT TEAM ON THE ROAD AND AT HOME

She’s also focused on expanding the international business, with a special focus on India, China and South America. WWE reaches 650 million homes around the world in 25 different languages. However, “we’re looking to be more strategic in our approach and capitalize on all the different lines of business of WWE.”

While McMahon tackles all those goals, she and Levesque also are raising three daughters, currently aged 9, 7 and 5. Having a great team helps them to keep the home/work responsibilities manageable. She’s come to understand that “it’s never going to be an equal balance. There’s going to be sacrifices made, either on the business end or the personal end.”

She said her favorite times of day are when she’s taking the kids to school and putting them to bed. Around 10:30 p.m., she and her husband work out — sometimes until after midnight. That’s the way she relieves stress.

McMahon doesn’t take her own children’s future involvement in WWE as a given.

“They’re going to have to really, really want it,” she said. “I encourage them to pursue their dream no matter what it is. They just need to be willing to work hard for it.”