Sources close to the deal told CNN Business that Fanatics was paying $500 million for the more than 80-year-old Topps, which started out as a chewing gum company in 1938 and began selling baseball cards in 1951.
Fanatics had been set to become the exclusive trading cards licensee for MLB in 2025, when Topps’ deal with the league was set to expire. But Fanatics said Tuesday that as a result of the Topps acquisition, it will immediately begin to design, manufacture and distribute baseball cards.
Fanatics has clear aspirations to become a giant of the sports business world. The company fortuitously opened a new store in Los Angeles in May that focuses on apparel for the popular Paris Saint-Germain soccer club — which lured legend Lionel Messi away from Barcelona several months later. Fanatics struck a 10-year merchandise deal with PSG in 2020.
The core Fanatics retail business is valued at $18 billion, based on its most recent round of financing last August. A source close to Fanatics told CNN Business at the time the company raised $325 million from various investors, including rapper/music mogul Jay-Z, MLB and venture capital firm Silver Lake.
Sources close to the company said Tuesday that Fanatics’ expanding trading card business is now valued at more than $10 billion and that its Candy Digital non-fungible tokens (NFT) unit is worth about $1.5 billion.
“With trading cards and collectibles being a significant pillar of our long-term plans to become the leading digital sports platform, we are excited to add a leading trading cards company to build out our business,” said Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin in a statement Tuesday.
“Like any crown jewel, I and my partners at Madison Dearborn will miss our many years of ownership where we grew a highly profitable business through strategic licensing partnerships, global expansion and digital transformation,” Eisner said in a statement. “We’re proud of what the Topps team has accomplished.”
