FANATICS SHAKES THE SPORTS CARD INDUSTRY

The new trading card venture launched by Fanatics Inc., which just last month upended the industry with a series of surprise deals, has received $350 million in Series A funding that values the firm at $10.4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The investments, which account for approximately 3.4% of the entity called Fanatics Trading Cards, come from a trio of investors: private-equity firm Silver Lake, entertainment giant Endeavor Group Holdings Inc., and Insight Partners, a private-equity and venture-capital firm.

The company's rapid rise to a $10 billion valuation in a manner of weeks reflects what it sees as the potential to transform the decades-old—yet suddenly booming—trading card business to benefit both the rights holders and collectors, these people said. Those plans involve being not just the primary seller of trading cards, but also capturing a chunk of an exploding resale market in which card traders have driven prices to record heights.

With Fanatics owning the rights, they are fundamentally going to change the experience for the fan and collector in a way that the existing rights holders just haven't done, said Greg Mondre, co-CEO of Silver Lake, which is already invested in Fanatics Inc. Hopefully, we're going to expand the audience of people that access these cards, that trade these cards and want to collect these cards.

People familiar with Fanatics Trading Cards say the new venture will angle to become the one-stop shop for all things in the trading card industry—including primary sales, secondary-marketplace deals, grading of cards and even storage.

In the industry's traditional model, distributors would sell cards to retailers, and then remain on the sidelines as prices for its product rose, sometimes astronomically, in the secondary market via eBay and other trading platforms. Fanatics Trading Cards wants to capture that value and believes that customers can benefit from a modernized business without the numerous middlemen bloating the prices on cards.

To read the complete article (subscription required), see:
Fanatics Trading Cards Valuation Rises to $10.4 Billion as New Firm Aims to Expand Its Reach (https://www.wsj.com/articles/fanatics-trading-cards-baseball-topps-value-10-billion-11632883190)

For more than 70 years, Topps Co. handled every curveball that came its way in maintaining control of the baseball-card market by relying on its deep historical relationships with Major League Baseball and its players.

But with one industry-rattling deal this week, Topps has suddenly lost its grip on the business it long dominated—and on Friday was forced to cancel imminent plans to go public via a special-purpose acquisition company.

To read the complete article (subscription required), see:
The Day Topps Lost Its 70-Year Grip on the Baseball-Card Market—and Its Billion-Dollar SPAC (https://www.wsj.com/articles/topps-baseball-cards-mlb-fanatics-spac-11629489916)

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