Ahead of her upcoming confirmation hearing for Secretary of Education, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics released Linda McMahon’s financial disclosure form on Friday, shedding light on the former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO’s extensive wealth, which includes hundreds of millions of dollars in assets.
McMahon, the estranged wife of WWE’s former chairman Vince McMahon, previously filed a similar disclosure form in 2016 as part of her confirmation for the position of Small Business Administration (SBA) administrator during President Donald Trump’s first term. McMahon served in that role from 2017 to 2019, when she resigned to take on the role of chair for America First Action, a prominent pro-Trump Super PAC.
As of December’s end, when McMahon signed the form, she reported owning a stake worth over $50 million in TKO Group Holdings, the Endeavor-owned entity that formed from the 2023 merger of the WWE and UFC. She also listed $5 million in WWE-related dividend income, as well as a multimillion-dollar stake in Ares Management Corp., a private equity firm with a robust lending business across pro sports and investments in soccer clubs Chelsea FC, Olympique Lyonnais, and Inter Miami, and the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
Unlike her financial portfolio nine years ago, McMahon’s holdings have notably expanded to include new kinds of fixed-income investments, including multiple municipal bonds funding higher education projects. These include $1 million to $5 million in bonds supporting institutions such as the University of Arizona, Texas State University, the University of California system and the University of Colorado. Additionally, she holds between $1.75 million and $6.5 million in University of Connecticut bonds, as well as $500,000 to $1 million in bonds for the University of Oklahoma and University of Utah.
In a corresponding ethics agreement, dated Wednesday, McMahon committed to divesting these bonds, as well as dozens of others that relate to K-12 education, within 90 days of her confirmation, as well as her shares of Ares, North Haven Private Income Fund and BlackRock Health Sciences Opportunities Fund. She also stated that she will resign from her position on the board of directors of Trump Media & Technology Group—which paid her $18,400 a quarter—and as a trustee of Sacred Heart University, her alma mater.
According to McMahon’s disclosure form, she has given a personal loan to an unnamed family member worth between $5 million and $25 million. Her liabilities include a monthly credit card bill from American Express and a 30-year mortgage of between $1 million and $5 million on her personal residence, which she took out in 2018. McMahon’s past business affiliations and financial interests are expected to be scrutinized during her confirmation hearing, particularly in the context of ongoing legal challenges surrounding WWE.
In January 2024, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit against Vince McMahon, alleging sexual assault and trafficking. Then, in December 2024, both Linda and Vince McMahon were named as defendants in another lawsuit filed by five former WWE “ring boys,” who claim they were sexually abused as minors by ringside announcer Melvin Phillips Jr. The plaintiffs allege that the McMahons either ignored or failed to intervene in WWE’s “rampant culture of sexual abuse.” Both McMahons have strongly denied any wrongdoing.
In March, Vince McMahon sold more $400 million in TKO Group shares, three months after stepping down as the company’s executive chairman following Grant’s lawsuit. In November 2023, he sold nearly $700 million in shares of the company. None of Vince McMahon’s assets are listed in the “spouse” section of Linda McMahon’s disclosure form. In November, her attorney publicly confirmed to the Washington Post that the couple, who married in 1966, had legally separated.
President Trump has said he is looking for Linda McMahon, as secretary, to effectively oversee the dismantling of the $269 billion Department of Education, which oversees student financial aid programs, such as Pell Grants, and the enforcement of Title IX.
