Dana White is rolling in cash after agreeing to remain in his role as UFC President following the sale of the company to WME | IMG at the weekend.
Thanks to his 9% stake in the company, White is reported to have banked around $360 million from the UFC sale.
However, he’s set to bolster his earnings even further after signing a new five year deal to remain on-board with the company, and rather than having a set salary he will be compensated with 9% of the UFC’s net profits, enabling his net worth to grow along with the UFC.
Based on recent UFC earnings estimates, that would currently set White’s yearly earnings at around $18 million. By way of comparison, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell averaged $21 million a year during the first 10 years of his reign.
As for White’s long-time partners and friends, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, they earned billions from the sale of the company and won’t be taking an active role in the UFC going forward, but have retained a passive, minority stake.
White and the Fertitta’s always worked extremely well together and maintained a good working and personal relationship, despite their different approaches, and so it’ll be interesting to see what, if any, changes there’ll now be under WME | IMG’s leadership.
”With Lorenzo leaving, it’s a lot more work for me,” White told CBS affiliate KLAS. “Lorenzo and I used to divide and conquer. With him gone, I’m going to have to pick up a lot of the stuff he used to do.”
White also indicated that WME’s sphere of influence as a talent agency and entertainment powerhouse will likely lead to more exposure on TV and the big screen for the UFC’s stars going forward, and of course, as always, he’s vowed that the UFC will grow to become bigger than ever before in the next five years.
