Ari Emanuel, the corporate powerhouse who serves as CEO and executive chairman of TKO Group Holdings, has reached billionaire status for the first time of his life. Emanuel was added to the Bloomberg Billionaire index for his personal wealth, signifying his vast fortune. In addition to his role with TKO, Emanuel serves as the CEO of Endeavor Group Holdings, who launched TKO (which consists of WWE and UFC) in September 2023.

TKO has nearly doubled in value over the past 12 months, with the share price increasing by 48% over the last year. The company is now valued at over $27 billion, and recently added Professional Bull Riders to its portfolio. While Emanuel isn’t an on-screen figure for WWE, he has been referenced on programming by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who serves as part of TKO’s Board of Directors.

While Emanuel’s fortunes continue to soar, many in TKO have been left feeling drained. This week, it was reported that there are several backstage issues, including an increased workload that can reach up to 60 hours a week. Reducing employee perks has also led to staff members increasingly feeling undervalued. WWE has ditched its previous policy allowing employees to purchase stock with a 15% reduction in price. Complimentary WWE tickets have also been nixed, in another blow to company morale.

With WWE’s female Superstars also having concerns, morale has taken a turn in WWE on the road to WrestleMania 41. Nevertheless, the success of TKO can’t be ignored, while Ari Emanuel will be more than pleased to have reached billionaire status.

WWE has been experiencing a period of record growth and posting unprecedented profits but the benefits of this boom do not seem to be far-reaching within the organization. A new report from Wrestlenomics has chronicled multiple issues that have led to a decline in employee morale behind the scenes since the WWE-UFC merger in September 2023.

A big reason for this merger was to consolidate services under the branding of Endeavor, which resulted in significant layoffs in multiple departments at the time.  Since then, the workload for the remaining employees has increased significantly with some people saying that they’re working 50 to 60 hours per week, particularly during the WrestleMania season. In addition to the responsibility in their WWE role, many have also been assigned additional UFC-related tasks.

The compensation for employees has not kept up with the increased workload, however, with multiple staff members saying that they’ve received a meagre 3% cost-of-living raise this year. Many with strong performance reviews, have been told they would not be receiving comparable raises due to budget constraints set by upper management.

The same constraints do not seem to apply to the top brass, however. In addition to bonuses received by top executives at the time of the merger, the nearly 50% increase in Endeavor Group Holdings shares since the time has helped people in administrative positions amass more wealth. The TKO Group Holdings CEO Ari Emanuel has reached billionaire status for the first time thanks to this significant increase in share values this month. This is in stark contrast to the cost-of-living raises given to employees which many argue hardly keeps pace with the rising living costs around the areas of WWE Headquarters in Connecticut and New York

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In addition to the limited increase in pay, reducing employee perks has also led to staff members increasingly feeling undervalued, while the management continues to emphasize the value of its workforce in town hall meetings. Some significant perks that have been discontinued include the removal of the peer-recognition initiative called ‘WWE Superstar’, as well as the elimination of complimentary live event tickets for employees.

This decline is in addition to frustration within the talent side, specifically among the female roster members. It’s been reported recently that female talents have been frustrated with their WrestleMania build and a recent WWE departure has left many feeling insecure about their position. You can check out more about it here.

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