A Delaware judge has handed a major setback to Vince McMahon, WWE President Nick Khan, and several other top WWE figures in the ongoing lawsuit over the company's merger with Endeavor that created TKO Group Holdings. Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster ruled that key individuals connected to WWE destroyed evidence by using Signal's auto-delete function despite having a legal duty to preserve those communications.
As a result, the court will now treat five damaging claims made by shareholders as presumptively true when the case heads to trial next month. The ruling centres on allegations that McMahon steered WWE towards a merger with Endeavor not because it was the strongest option for shareholders, but because Endeavor chief executive Ari Emanuel allegedly offered McMahon personal benefits, including a continued role in the company and support connected to federal investigations into alleged sexual misconduct. The defendants have denied the core allegations in the lawsuit.
