By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

During WWE's annual shareholders meeting on Friday, WWE CEO Vince McMahon briefly addressed a question on whether he'll consider buying out TNA.

"I don't know that they're for sale," McMahon said in a non-committal fashion. After a long pause as the shareholder asking the question pressed McMahon to give an answer, McMahon added, "Maybe."

The exchange at the end of the conference call was as follows:

Shareholder: When are you going to buy that three-letter company that's based in Nashville, Tenn., because they have the wrong people in charge of that company. Please save the business from Dixie Carter. (McMahon lightly laughs) Stephanie McMahon has more brains than Dixie Carter. (McMahon: Ooh.) I think if you buy it now, there's a shot at fixing that company up because I know you'll put the right people in charge of that company.

McMahon: I'm (long pause) - I don't know that they're for sale.

Shareholder: They're not for sale now, but I'm sure if you offered them something - I don't know, it's a 50/50 shot.

McMahon: Well - (deep groan) Maybe.

The exchange was removed from discussion earlier in the conference about WWE looking to acquire entertainment properties that fit their business model as part of the "New WWE" initiative, which TNA would fit into.

WWE said their goal is to find related content companies and "literally put them through the WWE system to create new revenue (for WWE)." WWE said the long-term goal is to acquire companies related to their content to grow the core business, which is creating content.

FYI: We'll have about five or six stories from WWE's annual shareholders meeting today covering a lot of what WWE had to say about the state of their company.

Link: WWE.com for video of the lengthy meeting.

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