UFC owner Ari Emanuel's pay falls to $18.1 million in 2024, TKO president Mark Shapiro' pay nearly doubles to $32 million
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TKO Group Holdings CEO Ari Emanuel saw a significant decrease in his overall salary in 2024 but he still ultimately earned $18.1 million for the year.
On Friday, TKO — the parent company to the UFC and WWE — disclosed an SEC proxy filing that detailed some of the salaries for the key executives in the company including Emanuel and TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro.
Emanuel's overall pay package that includes a base salary of $3 million along with several bonuses ultimately led to his $18.1 million pay in 2024, which was a steep decline from 2023 where he earned a whopping $64.9 million. The difference was tied to Emanuel receiving stock awards and overall bonuses tied to various transactions including a $20 million bonus from the UFC alone.
In 2024, Emanuel earned his base salary along with just over $8.2 million in an annual financial performance bonus along with $4.29 million for an actual qualitative discretionary bonus as well as $2.5 million in an annual equity award.
While Emanuel's pay package in 2024 was lower than the previous year, he's still earned massive payouts from other transactions including $173.8 million when Endeavor — the talent agency turned entertainment conglomerate and largest single shareholder in TKO — went private again. He also earned $308 million in 2021 when he helped lead Endeavor to going public initially with the majority of that payout done via stock awards.
As for Shapiro, his pay nearly doubled between 2023 and 2024.
After earning $16.1 million in 2023, the TKO president took home $32 million in 2024. The biggest reason for the dramatic increase was stock awards that were valued at over $19 million, with his yearly salary at $4 million along with $8.2 million in bonuses unreleased to stock awards.
One more interesting note, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who joined the TKO board of directors after he was represented by Endeavor as a talent agency and obviously worked for WWE for many years, earned over $29 million in stock awards in 2024.
