While we’re in a reminiscing sort of mood…When WWE purchased WCW

[KYR]

Back in March 2001, WWF Entertainment purchased WCW from AOL Time Warner for $7 million (reportedly).

So on reflection and nearly seven years (is it THAT long ago already), was this money well-spent or a complete waste of time?

When you think about the talent that was taken up, the talent that was cut loose, the elimination of your main opposition, the acquisition of film libraries (and subsequent royalties from DVD releases etc), the merchandising, I would think that $7 million is cheap. A year earlier, Vince listed his company offering 10 million shares at $17 each, so $7 million only represented about 4% of the total value of WWFE – not a huge risk.

But, did Vince buy too early? Potentially if he waited a bit longer he may have picked it all up a lot cheaper – but then again, would there have been the same fan impact of seeing WWE on WCW and the same level of interest in the product if Vince had’ve waited until WCW collapsed entirely and purchased the remnants in a fire sale.

In hindsight, it’s probably hard to argue against the timing.

So, 7 years down the track…Good Investment or Waste of Money?