Silver Lake, Arb Crowd Square Off Over Bid for WWE’s Owner

A faceoff is unfolding between Silver Lake Management and event-driven hedge funds over the private equity firm’s bid for Endeavor Group Holdings Inc., the Beverly Hills talent agency backing the WWE and UFC — and the winner may be decided in court.

On the one side is Silver Lake, which announced an agreement in April to buy out Endeavor’s minority investors at $27.50 a share. It already has a 71% voting stake in the talent shop led by superagent Ari Emanuel, and its involvement with Endeavor stretches back more than a decade.

Ari Emanuel, co-founder and chief executive officer of Endeavor Group Holdings Inc.

Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg

On the other side are ...