World Wrestling Entertainment to Get a Makeover

The entertainment company has shortened its name to WWE and has plans to expand through acquisitions, create its own cable channel and sell its production expertise.

Vince McMahon is taking the wrestling out of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

No, this isn't an outrageous plot the colorful impresario has cooked up for his wrestlers to act out in front of thousands of screaming fans. McMahon, the chairman and chief executive of WWE, wants to give the company a makeover, starting with the name. From now on WWE will no longer stand for World Wrestling Entertainment. It will just be WWE, plain and simple.

"I think every brand has to re-create itself," he said. "I want everyone to look at us in a vastly different way than they have."

To do that, McMahon plans to go on a spending spree to acquire media assets that could expand WWE's business beyond the ring. In particular, he said, WWE is targeting companies involved in production, live entertainment and branding.

"It is a logical broadening of what we already do," McMahon said in an interview.

Besides hunting for acquisitions, WWE is moving ahead with long-talked-about plans to create its own cable network for its vast library of wrestling fare. The company has been meeting with distributors including Verizon and hopes to get a channel launched in 2012.

McMahon also wants to start marketing WWE's expertise in producing live events.

"No one does television production better than we do, it's damn near the Olympics," McMahon said in his customary rasp after an afternoon rehearsing for a taping of one of WWE's shows. "We know more about live event touring than anyone in the United States."...More?

source: latimes.com