February 5, 2008
Zuffa Sale Rumor Goes Public
This weekend rumors that Zuffa and the UFC are for sale went public in a radio interview between Steve Cofield and Dana White. Sam Caplan has a transcript of the relevant exchange at FiveOuncesofPain.com. When asked if the company was for sale, White essentially said that everything has a price and that there have been unsolicited bids, but that the company was not actively shopping for buyers.
MMAPayout.com first heard that the company was for sale back in December. At that time, the rumored asking price was in the neighborhood of $220 million with the profile of the prospective buyer being described as a media company, preferably international. Including the company's $350 million debt, that asking price would put Zuffa's value at more than half a billion dollars. Since then sources have told MMAPayout.com that the rumored asking price is significantly higher.
Many in the industry believe that the company's major, some would say quixotic, international expansion effort is related to its rumored sale (SEE: Tough Sledding: UFC Finding International Expansion Isn't Easy).