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Linda McMahon, Best for Business

Donald Trump taps WWE co-founder to head SBA

Linda McMahon / AP
December 7, 2016

Donald Trump has picked WWE co-founder Linda McMahon to head the Small Business Administration when he takes office, the president-elect announced Wednesday.

The 68-year-old McMahon was a major Trump supporter during the presidential campaign, giving $6 million to a pro-Trump super PAC, CNBC reported.

"Linda has a tremendous background and is widely recognized as one of the country's top female executives advising businesses around the globe," Trump said in a statement. He added that McMahon would "bring back our jobs and roll back the burdensome regulations that are hurting our middle class."

"Our small businesses are the largest source of job creation in our country," McMahon said after her nomination was announced. "I am honored to join the incredibly impressive economic team that President-elect Trump has assembled to ensure that we promote our country's small businesses and help them grow and thrive."

McMahon ran two ultimately unsuccessful Senate campaigns in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012 with a platform of lowering the corporate tax rate and reducing regulations on small businesses. Trump has proposed cutting the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent and rolling back regulations.

McMahon and her husband Vince McMahon founded the WWE, or World Wrestling Entertainment, over 30 years ago. The publicly-traded company currently has a market value of approximately $1.5 billion.

Trump has long-held ties with the WWE and even made appearances at wrestling matches over the years. In 2007, Trump showed up at the annual WWE pay-per-view event Wrestlemania, where he shaved Vince McMahon's hair off in the wrestling ring alongside "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and another wrestler.