WWE has confirmed the hiring of Nick Khan as its new President & Chief Revenue Officer following an initial report from John Ourand at Sports Business Journal.
Khan had grown to become one of the most powerful agents in the sports broadcasting industry negotiating several key deals for television rights, including being part of WWE’s team in 2018 that landed their new deals with Fox and NBC Universal.
One of Khan’s titles with WWE is President, which were the titles of both George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, who were let go earlier this year. In his roles, Khan will report directly to Vince McMahon.
From Khan:
I am very much looking forward to expanding my relationship with Vince McMahon and the entire team at WWE, and becoming a full-time member of the WWE family. It’s rare to have an opportunity to work at a company that is not only legendary in what it has already accomplished, but also uniquely poised to enter into an unprecedented phase of growth and expansion across all lines of business. Our collective industry experience will enable us to extract maximum value across the portfolio globally while driving long-term shareholder value.
The announcement of Khan’s hiring coincides with the same week where Kristina Salen began her position as WWE’s new chief financial officer.
Khan joined CAA in 2012 and became its Co-Head of Television representing various clients including Jalen Rolen, Mike Greenberg, and Colin Cowherd, and negotiating deals on behalf of the SEC and Top Rank Boxing. Prior to joining CAA, he worked at ICM and launched a sports media division within the group.
In 2018, he was instrumental in WWE’s negotiations that transformed its business with the two largest television deals the company ever signed. The five-years deals are reportedly worth $265 million per for Raw and $205 million for Friday Night SmackDown.
Vince McMahon was quoted in the release stating:
Nick is a seasoned media executive with a deep understanding of our business and a proven track record of generating significant value for sports and entertainment properties. While representing WWE at CAA, he was instrumental in transforming our business model by securing domestic media rights increases of 3.6x over our previous agreements. Nick’s management style and personal demeanor are perfect for WWE’s entrepreneurial culture, and he will fit right in with our exceptional management team.
The hiring of Khan comes as WWE’s television viewership has experienced significant declines and was one of the major areas of concern on last week’s second-quarter earnings call from analysts. WWE has addressed its television viewership at different points over the past year when they named Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman as Executive Directors of SmackDown and Raw respectively, both have since been removed from those positions with Bruce Prichard running both shows, which are overseen by Vince McMahon.
