The Rock and Nick Khan are two of the most influential business leaders according to Variety.
Variety unveiled the Variety500, naming the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry. On the list were WWE President Nick Khan and former WWE superstar turned Hollywood mogul Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Nick Khan biography:
Khan joined WWE in August 2020, leaving his post as co-head of the television department at CAA, where he won his future employers over by negotiating domestic media rights deals that were 3.6 times richer than their previous agreements. It was more of the same in January 2021, when he and his boss, WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, negotiated a five-year pact reportedly worth more than $1 billion with longtime partner NBCUniversal, granting its platform Peacock exclusive streaming rights to WWE Network in the U.S. Khan also closed deals for a Netflix documentary on McMahon, an audio content partnership with Spotify/The Ringer, a limited scripted series with Blumhouse and a “Friday Night SmackDown” event staged as part of the Rolling Loud music festival in Miami in July 2021.
The Rock biography:
Wrestler-turned-acting-sensation Johnson remains busy on multiple screens. His autobiographical NBC sitcom “Young Rock” debuted to big ratings in February 2021, earning a second season pickup, and he reigns as Hollywood’s highest-paid actor, earning an estimated $87.5 million in fiscal 2020, per Forbes. He’s further following 2021 starring roles in Disney’s “Jungle Cruise” and Netflix thriller “Red Notice” with turns as DC Comics superheroes, playing the title character in “Shazam!” spin-off “Black Adam” while voicing Krypto the Superdog in the animated “DC League of Super Pets,” both set for 2022. Johnson also owns the tequila brand Teremana and the football league XFL, which he purchased with business partner Dany Garcia in 2020.
Craig Jacobson, whose client list includes WWE, also made the list.
Vince McMahon, who has made the list every year since 2017, was not on the list.
