Fans are big with the treatment of baseball cards and Leo Messi

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As a result, Topps, in his 80s, withdrew his plans to go public on Friday through a merger with a blank-check special-purpose acquisition company.

The MLB deal is Fanatics ’latest coup.

Fanatics had reached a ten-year merchandising deal with the PSG team, which also has the best stars Neymar and Kylian Mbappé on the list, in 2020. The company plans to open more PSG stores, which could mean many money for Fanatics, although the sale of shirts and other items with Messi and his new number 30. (Messi was the number 10 of his old team, Barcelona).

Football fans inspect Lionel Messi's No. 30 PSG shirts during Messi's press conference announcing his signing with the club in Paris on August 11, 2021. Messi, the sixth winner of the Ball trophy d'Or with FC Barcelona, ​​signed a two-year contract with an option for a third year with the French club.
Fanatics runs the PSG shopping site, which currently offers a large number of Messi items for sale beyond his shirt, including a shirt with his name and number in the shape of an Eiffel Tower, as well as a with the club’s motto “Ici C”. est Paris’ and the date of the official signing of Messi with the team.

The company declined to comment on reports that it wanted to establish a new trading card division at its company for baseball cards and potentially other sports such as basketball and football.

Fans making big moves toward a possible IPO

A source close to the company also confirmed to CNN Business that Fanatics has just raised a new round of $ 325 million in funding from Jay-Z, Major League Baseball, Silver Lake and other investors that the company values ​​at $ 18 billion . This exceeds its previous valuation of $ 12.8 billion.

Fanatics, led by major shareholder Michael Rubin and veteran e-commerce / technology executive Doug Mack, has clear aspirations to become a giant in the sports business world.

Beyond the new supply of baseball cards and their growing influence in the clothing business, Fanatics is preparing to immerse itself in the lucrative world of sports betting, taking on the taste of DraftKings.

Fans lured Matt King, former CEO of rival DraftKings FanDuel, in June to lead a new sports gaming unit.

EBay is looking to cash in on the trading boom

The company also has big plans for the growing non-consumable token business, or NFT: digital assets that have become an important part of the world of sports collectors in recent times.

Fanatics recently launched a unit called Candy Digital with cryptographic entrepreneur Michael Novogratz of Galaxy Digital (BRPHF) and Gary Vaynerchuk. In July, Candy Digital sold its first NFT, a digital version of the famous “Luckiest Man” farewell speech, delivered by Yankee great Lou Gehrig.
Fans also hired ex IAC (IAC) Glenn Schiffman, chief financial officer last month, a move that will likely increase the talks the company wants to make public.

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