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Vince McMahon, Chairman of the Board of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE), is a third generation promoter who has made WWE into the global phenomenon it is today. As a pioneer in the television syndication business, a recognized television personality throughout the world, a visionary promoter and a fearless marketer, he continues to make his presence known as a leader within the broadcast and entertainment industries.
In 1972, McMahon joined his father’s company, Capitol Wrestling Corporation, on a full-time basis. By 1979, the company had syndicated programming to 30 television stations. In 1982, he purchased the Capitol Wrestling Corporation from his father and decided to take what had been a regional operation and turn it into a national venture.
McMahon soon became a pioneer in the cable television industry by leveraging the new technologies of pay-per-view and closed-circuit television for the first WrestleMania. Now, not only had he built a brand that people would watch in syndication, he had built the WWE into a brand that people would pay to watch. WrestleMania III in 1987 attracted 93,173 fans to the Pontiac Silverdome, setting an indoor attendance record that still stands. In April 2000, more than a million fans purchased WrestleMania X-6, at the time making it the most watched non-boxing event in pay-per-view history. WrestleMania has achieved approximately one million buys four more times since then. In 2006, nearly six million households purchased WWE pay-per-view events, placing the company among the largest pay-per-view event programming providers in the world.
Today, WWE produces new television programming 52 weeks a year. Programs such as "Monday Night RAW," "Friday Night SmackDown," and "ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling" are ratings successes that can be seen in more than 130 countries and heard in 22 languages.
As the television audience has grown exponentially, so has the live event audience. In 2007, WWE performed 308 live events, including 75 international events, entertaining more than 2.0 million fans.
Under McMahon’s leadership, the company continues to grow. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WWE. WWE has started WWE Films, which will produce and fully finance two to four motion pictures a year, and is making inroads into digital media platforms with new video-on-demand, broadband and mobile services. In recognition of WWE’s work to support children over the past 20 years, Vince, in 2005, was appointed to The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America National Advisory Council. He is a tireless supporter of the U.S. military; the WWE was the recipient of the USO of Metropolitan Washington’s first ever "Legacy of Hope" award for WWE’s extensive support of our troops and the USO’s Operation Care Package program and in 2007, WWE received the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Public Service Award for its support of deployed service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. | 