Jump to
In 2021, Endeavor and UFC owner Ari Emanuel became by far the highest earning executive in Hollywood — and likely a lot of other sports and entertainment scenes — after he earned a whopping paycheck of over $308 million.
His other Endeavor colleagues also made an exorbitant amount of money in 2021, with Executive chairman Patrick Whitesell getting $123 million, Endeavor President Mark Shapiro netting $42 million, CFO Jason Lublin $18 million, and Chief Communication Officer Christian Muirhead getting $12 million.
2022 was a lot more modest in comparison, but Emanuel and his colleagues still made bank that year.
Ari Emanuel and other Endeavor bosses made a lot of money in 2022
According to Endeavor’s SEC filings, company heads Ari Emanuel made $19 million, Mark Shapiro got $18.7 million, and Patrick Whitesell had $12.2 million. Those three executives got lower pay than 2022, thanks to the previous stock grant after Endeavor went public. CFO Jason Lublin on the other hand, got better pay compared to 2021, as he is listed to have a $18.5 million pay package in 2022.
If we don’t compare the massive 2021 payouts due to the stock grants, these Endeavor executives and UFC owners still got much larger pay compared to the year prior. Ari Emanuel got $4.6 million more than his 2020 payout of $14.4 million, Whitesell got $9 million more than his $3.2 million 2020 pay, while Lublin got $15.9 million more compared to his payday that year.
UFC’s lucrative business and low fighter pay
In the same announcement, Endeavor again boasted that their golden goose promotion in the UFC had yet another record breaking financial year in 2022. They stated that their Owned Sports Properties segment, which is mostly made out of the UFC, grew “both revenue and profitability by double digits.”
These payouts being filed also comes on the heels of Endeavor announcing its lucrative WWE acquisition and merger with the UFC, valued at 21 billion dollars.
UFC’s low pay and revenue share has been a hot topic in recent years. When news came out that Emanuel and Whitesell alone combined for more than double the pay of the entire UFC roster of around 500 athletes that year, the company tried to justify the massive payouts to their executives. They claimed that they have done “very very well” paying fighters, and said that “while such awards could result in substantial compensation to our executives, we believe they further align our CEO and Executive Chairman with our shareholders’ interests.”
When Endeavor boasted about UFC breaking their financial records in 2022 for the fourth consecutive year, they also admitted to having “lower athlete costs” that year.
Join the Bloody Elbow Substack!
Support Bloody Elbow, and get exclusive content.
About the author
