We can definitely smell what The Rock is cooking now — dude’s whipped up a mogul souffle … ’cause he’s now on the new WWE board, and he’s got exclusive rights to his stage name.
Dwayne Johnson was announced as the newest board of directors member for TKO — which now owns WWE and UFC as a new one-stop shop entity. As one of the shot-callers of the org, DJ will not only get some executive decision-making power … but other perks too.
For starters, he’s getting some stock options — which are valued at $30 million, and which will vest over time. More importantly, he’s being granted the full trademark to ‘The Rock’ … which he has pretty much gone by his entire career, dating back to when he was in the ring.
As part of this new move, Dwayne will get to capitalize on his moniker — specifically, as it pertains to merchandising/royalties the WWE might make by using ‘The Rock’ in business.
THR reports that part of the deal between DJ and TKO regarding ‘The Rock’ rights sees that TKO gets an exclusive licensing deal for 10 years to use the brand for certain products … and during that time, Dwayne can’t go and license it to other companies competitive with them. In other words, he receives the trademark … but WWE gets a decade to milk it.
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The Rock said of the news … “My grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, and my dad, Rocky ‘Soulman’ Johnson, would’ve never thought this day would come.”
He adds, “Which is why I’m very humbled to have a seat at the table that has decades of history and family legacy for me. A table that my family helped to build. Being on the TKO Board of Directors, and taking full ownership of my name, ‘The Rock’, is not only unprecedented, but incredibly inspiring as my crazy life is coming full circle.”