Triller executive resigns from board of directors

Long-time ex-CEO Bobby Sarnevesht exits Triller over "disagreements".

NASDAQ bell ringing for Triller (February 18, 2025)

Less than four months ago, veteran Triller executive Bobby Sarnevesht was on Instagram celebrating his appearance at NASDAQ. On Friday, Triller announced that Mr. Sarnevesht resigned from Triller’s board of directors earlier in the week.

How quickly things can change. At least on the surface.

In 2024, The MMA Draw newsletter on Substack sounded the alarm about financial troubles at Triller. Given Triller’s outsized impact on streaming events for combat sports, this was a big story.

Triller made an attempt to raise cash on NASDAQ through a shell called AGBA. It allowed the company to buy time to seek further investment, as recently advertised during a Mar-A-Lago visit in South Florida.

Time is running out. It has been running out.

In early April 2025, we reported on information from financial back-channels about a supposed attempt to raise cash to spin off Bare Knuckle FC from Triller and onto NASDAQ.

A week after our MMA Draw report on BKFC, Triller raised eyebrows with a curious debt financing disclosure via an SEC filing.

There has been lots of chaos involving Triller. It started with a NT-10K notice, notifying the SEC that they would be late in filing their 2024 yearly 10-K report. Usually, that’s not a positive sign.

Triller has largely been silent. They still haven’t filed their 2024 10-K and have been warned of NASDAQ delisting.

Then came new developments last week involving Tony Khan and All Elite Wrestling. Their Double-or-Nothing PPV was heavily promoted as streaming on Amazon. A curious marketing decision, especially given Triller’s August 2024 announcement of having bundling rights to sell AEW PPVs.

Triller has been a very good friend to fight fans, especially wrestling customers. Losing Triller would be devastating to both fans and promoters, especially with Bleacher Report PPV axed by Warner Bros. Discovery.

The longer Triller waits to file its 2024 10-K report, the louder the conjecture regarding the company’s future. And after a Friday SEC filing by Triller, the decibel reading just got significantly louder.

Bobby Sarnevesht, long-time Triller CEO and media face as an executive for the company, tendered his resignation from Triller’s Board of Directors.

Over the last few years, Mr. Sarnevesht has made various media appearances talking about Triller’s positioning vis-à-vis TikTok. Between a US TikTok ban, reported financial negotiations, and ongoing litigation, Triller has repeatedly marketed itself as an alternative to fill TikTok’s very large shadow.

Here is how The Wall Street Journal profiled Mr. Sarnevesht’s position with Triller:

And now Mr. Sarnevesht is gone from Triller’s Board of Directors.

The last time there was a high-profile exit from Triller’s Board of Directors? Bob Diamond from Atlas Merchant Capital LLC, who then promptly turned around and sued Triller in Federal court.

What does this news mean for Triller, and what does it mean for you?

For Triller, it’s a less-than-uplifting public disclosure. The stock price over the last 30 days tells the market story:

Some Stage 4 declines are more dramatic than others. The erosion starts gradually and then slides suddenly.

Triller faces numerous financial and legal challenges. There are multiple lawsuits in both New York state and Federal court regarding various claims. One such action involved a hedge fund seeking summary judgment over a convertible note with an extremely high interest rate that Triller allegedly defaulted on. That hedge fund filed directly for summary judgment in New York state court. The judge in that case ordered a conversion of the SJ action and Triller’s SJ response to be converted into a formal complaint and answer. Triller’s law firm issued a press release bragging about this.

As silly as this development might sound, it’s important in buying time for Triller. In past litigation, Triller has been accused in legal pleadings of using Bare Knuckle FC as collateral for cash. If Triller did end up offering BKFC as collateral for loans and convertible notes, then there are significant problems moving forward.

Barring a dramatic reversal of financial fortunes, here are two hypothetical scenarios that I could see unfolding for Triller:

• Hypothetical scenario #1: A pre-packaged bankruptcy (of which I’m growing more skeptical about)

• Hypothetical scenario #2: A good old-fashioned bankruptcy, which could be drawn out and complicated (i.e., a Chapter 15 proceeding given that AGBA does business in Los Angeles and Hong Kong)

One of the more curious notations we’ve read in Triller SEC filings is a reference to Subordination agreements for an entity called Giant Wisdom Ventures Limited. There are entries on Chinese websites for GWVL.

If Triller is delisted from NASDAQ, then what happens?

There are currently various outstanding lawsuits with Triller as a named defendant. Those lawsuits and potential creditors could play a role in any bankruptcy proceeding.

Then there’s the question of what would happen to TrillerTV/FITE and BKFC operations under a bankruptcy action. Would a bankruptcy court allow those operations to continue under a trustee/receivership setup? If this were to happen, there would be significant financial restraints placed on BKFC in terms of how much they could spend to produce fight events.

What I’m watching for: Can Triller and/or Dave Feldman of BKFC find a way to extricate Triller’s ownership of Bare Knuckle before a formal bankruptcy declaration occurs? What if Mr. Feldman reaches a deal for a third party to buy Triller’s ownership stake in BKFC? What constitutes Fair Market Value? Would this sale get legally challenged by parties who have active litigation against Triller over allegations that Bare Knuckle FC was put up as collateral for unpaid loans?

There is a lot to unwind here, as Brandon Thurston at Wrestlenomics recently reviewed.

For our paying subscribers at The MMA Draw, we will be taking a much closer look at the Triller situation on our next podcast. We’ll also have an extensive preview of coming attractions in the UFC antitrust litigation scene and what everyone is misunderstanding both legally and tactically. And, yes, we will most definitely touch upon Vince McMahon’s new investment vehicle and what information in particular caught our attention. Given the declining business situation for Tony Khan’s All Elite Wrestling and Mark Shapiro’s suddenly uncertain UFC media rights negotiations, the ghost of Mr. McMahon is looming larger.

Zach Arnold is the lead opinion writer for The MMA Draw Newsletter on Substack. You can e-mail him at fightopinion - at - protonmail dot com.