Linda McMahon

Quick facts

• Full name: Linda McMahon (née Edwards)
• Born: October 4, 1948, New Bern, North Carolina
• Spouse: Vince McMahon (married August 26, 1966; separated but still legally married at the time of her 2025 nomination)
• Net worth: $413 million to $1.3 billion-plus in reportable assets (per her OGE Form 278e nominee filing, signed December 2024)
• Current role: 13th U.S. Secretary of Education (confirmed March 3, 2025, by a 51–45 Senate vote)

Key positions

Biography

Linda McMahon co-founded the wrestling business that became World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) with her husband, Vince McMahon, building it from Titan Sports in 1980 into a publicly traded entertainment company where she served as President from 1993 and CEO from 1997 to 2009. The McMahon family fortune traces largely to that enterprise. Her OGE Form 278e nominee filing reports two positions held in her own name that represent the family’s residual WWE stake: a holding in TKO Group Holdings — the post-2023 entity combining WWE and UFC — valued at “Over $50,000,000,” and a WWE position generating “Over $5,000,000” in dividend income during the reporting period.

McMahon’s documented financial relationship with Donald Trump predates her government service by a decade. According to the research record, the McMahon family donated $4 million to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in 2007 and an additional $5 million in 2009, and gave $6 million to the pro-Trump Rebuilding America Now Super PAC in 2016. She went on to serve as Administrator of the Small Business Administration during the first Trump administration (2017–2019), then chaired the America First Policy Institute from January 2021 — the outside organization that drafted policy and pre-positioned personnel during the years between the two Trump administrations.

In March 2024 McMahon joined the board of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind Truth Social, as a paid independent director. Per her OGE filing, the seat carried a cash retainer ($18,400 per quarter, plus a $55,200 payment for 2024 work) and a restricted-stock award. She was granted 6,486 vested and 19,460 unvested restricted stock units; at TMTG’s late-January 2025 share price the vested portion was worth roughly $195,000, and she committed to divest the resulting stock within 90 days of confirmation. She resigned from the TMTG board effective March 3, 2025 — the same day the Senate confirmed her as Education Secretary — and was replaced by former Congressman George Holding.

McMahon is also a named defendant in the October 2024 “Ring Boy” lawsuit, which alleges negligence during the WWE era in connection with the sexual abuse of minors. The suit was paused in December 2024, allowed to proceed in February 2025, and McMahon filed a motion to dismiss in April 2025 — litigation that ran parallel to her confirmation as the official now overseeing Title IX enforcement at the Department of Education.

Sources

• Linda McMahon — OGE Form 278e Nominee Report (Final) — U.S. Office of Government Ethics; signed December 26, 2024, certified February 5, 2025 (net worth, positions, TMTG and TKO/WWE holdings)
• Linda McMahon — Trump Team Financial Disclosures — ProPublica, 2025
• Linda McMahon Awarded Nearly $195K in Trump Stock — Newsweek, January 2025
• Linda McMahon Plans to Forfeit Trump Media Stock Award If Confirmed — Bloomberg, February 7, 2025
• Former Congressman George Holding Joins Trump Media Board — GlobeNewswire, March 7, 2025 (confirms McMahon resignation effective March 3, 2025)
• Linda McMahon — Trump’s Education pick — sued over WWE abuse claims — CNN, November 21, 2024