The panda took her logo — and now her heart.
Linda McMahon recently visited a panda preserve near Chengdu, China, and posted this photo on her Facebook page.
You’d never know it that the McMahon family’s billion-dollar entertainment business — formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation — had to relinquish its use of the WWF name to the World Wide Fund for Nature in 2002 following a branding lawsuit.
A panda has been the logo of the WWF — the other one — since its founding in 1961.
The subject of rampant speculation on whether she has another run for public office in her after two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate, McMahon was in China to speak at a global business forum sponsored by Fortune magazine.
She was part of a panel of women entrepreneurs that discussed the efforts of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) to connect with females and the company’s commitment to “corporate social responsibility.”
“We have mommy bloggers who will go to different environments. They Tweet during the show. They talk about the experience that they’re having,” McMahon, the former chief executive of WWE, said in a video taken at the forum.
McMahon’s visit to the world’s most populous nation coincided with an announcement that WWE Live will return to Shanghai, China, in August.
In preparation for the Fortune Global Forum, Chinese media reported that the government generated artificial rain to reduce the pollution in Chengdu and spray-painted a meadow green near the venue to make it look more appealing.
Organizers of the forum were also criticized by local media for limited access during the conclave, where journalists were said to have been forced to watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television feeds.
It’s been a busy month for McMahon, who told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers in late May that she had no plans to run for political office and signed up to do some unspecified consulting work.
Last week, McMahon posted a photo of herself on Facebook with former U.S. Secretary of State and former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative Conference in Chicago.
WWE, meanwhile, finds itself embroiled in another controversy after a 13-year-old New Orleans boy was charged this week with the murder of his 5-year-old half-sister, whom he body-slammed and punched while babysitting. Authorities said the boy had been imitating moves he learned from watching WWE programming.
WWE released the following statement Tuesday night:
“The death of Viloude Louis is a tragedy, and our condolences go out to her family. WWE urges restraint in reporting this unfortunate incident as if it were the result of a WWE wrestling move. As in similar cases, criminal intent to harm and a lack of parental supervision have been the factors resulting in a tragic death. Authorities have already charged the accused with second degree murder and determined that this was not an accidental death due to a wrestling move.”