Vince McMahon failed to make the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans this year, as his net worth fell from $1.9 billion to $1.7 billion as of September 9th, 2020.
Even with January’s numbers, the former Alpha/XFL owner would have missed the cut. This year, you needed at least $2.1 billion to be considered. McMahon made the list last year, and was worth over $3 billion.
COVID-19 has played a big role in the slide, but it did not start from there. WWE, McMahon’s main business, has been hemorrhaging money for over a year. Recently they just had to furlough another round of employees, and reduce executive salaries to save money.
After the virus paused the XFL season in March, McMahon filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the parent company Alpha Entertainment, LLC. The spring football league sold in August of this year for $15 million. It’s believed that Vince himself invested over $200 million to get the XFL started.
McMahon began with his father’s business, a small wrestling group in North Carolina in 1972, buying it in the early 80s and turning it into a global empire.
Since then, he has tried to start a football league twice, both times they ended prematurely. The 2020 version, however, was much more successful than the 2001 gimmick-laden one. It would have survived had the pandemic not taken place, shutting nearly everything down in the country.
Alpha Acquico, LLC, a group led by Dany Garcia and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson bought the XFL, with what looks like plans to begin again in 2021.
