diff --git a/src/network/networkd-manager.c b/src/network/networkd-manager.c
index 8019d4488cc..26f896b90a8 100644
--- a/src/network/networkd-manager.c
+++ b/src/network/networkd-manager.c
@@ -1370,7 +1370,7 @@ static const struct hash_ops dhcp6_prefixes_hash_ops = {
         .compare = dhcp6_prefixes_compare_func,
 };
 
-int manager_new(Manager **ret, sd_event *event) {
+int manager_new(Manager **ret) {
         _cleanup_(manager_freep) Manager *m = NULL;
         int r;
 
@@ -1382,7 +1382,13 @@ int manager_new(Manager **ret, sd_event *event) {
         if (!m->state_file)
                 return -ENOMEM;
 
-        m->event = sd_event_ref(event);
+        r = sd_event_default(&m->event);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        sd_event_set_watchdog(m->event, true);
+        sd_event_add_signal(m->event, NULL, SIGTERM, NULL, NULL);
+        sd_event_add_signal(m->event, NULL, SIGINT, NULL, NULL);
 
         r = sd_event_add_post(m->event, NULL, manager_dirty_handler, m);
         if (r < 0)
diff --git a/src/network/networkd-manager.h b/src/network/networkd-manager.h
index 3543e5861d2..a6cb1e2d44a 100644
--- a/src/network/networkd-manager.h
+++ b/src/network/networkd-manager.h
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ static inline const DUID* link_duid(const Link *link) {
 
 extern const sd_bus_vtable manager_vtable[];
 
-int manager_new(Manager **ret, sd_event *event);
+int manager_new(Manager **ret);
 void manager_free(Manager *m);
 
 int manager_connect_bus(Manager *m);
diff --git a/src/network/networkd.c b/src/network/networkd.c
index b59b3081413..d2467b70cee 100644
--- a/src/network/networkd.c
+++ b/src/network/networkd.c
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 #include "user-util.h"
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
-        sd_event *event = NULL;
         _cleanup_(manager_freep) Manager *m = NULL;
         const char *user = "systemd-network";
         uid_t uid;
@@ -71,15 +70,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 
         assert_se(sigprocmask_many(SIG_BLOCK, NULL, SIGTERM, SIGINT, -1) >= 0);
 
-        r = sd_event_default(&event);
-        if (r < 0)
-                goto out;
-
-        sd_event_set_watchdog(event, true);
-        sd_event_add_signal(event, NULL, SIGTERM, NULL, NULL);
-        sd_event_add_signal(event, NULL, SIGINT, NULL, NULL);
-
-        r = manager_new(&m, event);
+        r = manager_new(&m);
         if (r < 0) {
                 log_error_errno(r, "Could not create manager: %m");
                 goto out;
@@ -137,7 +128,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
                   "READY=1\n"
                   "STATUS=Processing requests...");
 
-        r = sd_event_loop(event);
+        r = sd_event_loop(m->event);
         if (r < 0) {
                 log_error_errno(r, "Event loop failed: %m");
                 goto out;
@@ -147,7 +138,5 @@ out:
                   "STOPPING=1\n"
                   "STATUS=Shutting down...");
 
-        sd_event_unref(event);
-
         return r < 0 ? EXIT_FAILURE : EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }
diff --git a/src/network/test-network.c b/src/network/test-network.c
index 5349b668bee..35c982a91d7 100644
--- a/src/network/test-network.c
+++ b/src/network/test-network.c
@@ -219,7 +219,6 @@ static void test_dhcp_hostname_shorten_overlong(void) {
 
 int main(void) {
         _cleanup_(manager_freep) Manager *manager = NULL;
-        _cleanup_(sd_event_unrefp) sd_event *event = NULL;
         _cleanup_(udev_unrefp) struct udev *udev = NULL;
         _cleanup_(udev_device_unrefp) struct udev_device *loopback = NULL;
         int r;
@@ -229,9 +228,7 @@ int main(void) {
         test_address_equality();
         test_dhcp_hostname_shorten_overlong();
 
-        assert_se(sd_event_default(&event) >= 0);
-
-        assert_se(manager_new(&manager, event) >= 0);
+        assert_se(manager_new(&manager) >= 0);
 
         r = test_load_config(manager);
         if (r == -EPERM)