Tony Khan comments on his relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery and whether or not he'd be open to a change in control.
Since 2019, AEW has maintained a great relationship with its media partner, Warner Bros. Discovery. In the less than five years since the promotion was founded, they have substantially increased their hours of programming on television and continue to increase their pay-per-view output.
During a media call prior to the AEW WrestleDream event, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter asked whether or not Warner Bros. Discovery owned a minority stake in the promotion or if there were ever any discussions about the partnership heading in that direction.
Tony says that it's something they have talked about, and he is open to additional investment in his company. Still, he's not open to any discussions that would result in a shift in ownership or any significant changes regarding his power within AEW.
"It’s something we’ve talked about a lot," he said. "There has been a lot of conversations about that. It’s always been something I’ve been open to. Between Warner Bros. Discovery and myself, a lot of the financial and structural details of our partnership, we’ve been able to keep between us, but there are things that have always said to be true, that I own 100% of the voting stock of this company and that I have 100% of the decision making power in the company. I’ve been open to taking on additional partnerships or things of that nature. We have a really great deal, right now, with Warner Brothers Discovery, and I would love to have an even longer agreement. As for them and their stake in the business, that is something that would be between us, but I would also be open to that, to Warner Brothers in a future deal, having a piece or a bigger piece, potentially, but I would always want to maintain 100% voting control, as I have now, and want to maintain the majority of stock, which I have now.
"These are things that are important to me, but in a future deal, these are things I would be open to," he continued. "There is nothing bad about it. We’ve seen in pro wrestling this year a change of control. I have no interest in a change of control. Would I be interested in taking on additional investment? Yeah, potentially. It would have to be at the right numbers and it would have to make sense for us based on how much our business has grown this year. As for a change or control or giving up voting stock, no, I have no interest in that."
Tony Khan has stated that the October 1 AEW WrestleDream card will be the ending of a chapter in wrestling and the beginning of a new era for AEW. Tony provided more color on what he meant by that statement, while not fully clarifying what was coming next, on this same media call. Read more here.
Fans can check out the full card for AEW WrestleDream at this link.
Should you use any portion of the quotes above, transcription credit should go to Fightful with a H/T linking back to this article.
