Is Topps About to Be Put Up For Sale?
Could Topps be sold in the not-too-distant future? According to Bloomberg’s Keil Porter, their parent company could be putting up the For Sale sign soon.
Porter suggests that a possible scenario would see Topps’ card and candy divisions split up. From there, one or both could be sold by owners Madison Dearborn Partners and Michael Eisner’s Tornante Company. But there’s also the possibility that they might keep both.
The two companies bought Topps in 2007 for $385 million and made it private. The card and confectionary company had been publicly traded before that. At the time, Upper Deck was also trying to buy Topps.
So what does this mean for collectors?
Right now, likely nothing. It’s business as usual. Topps has announced products in baseball all the way through August so far and probably have them planned even further. Other licenses like Star Wars, The Walking Dead and UFC also have products announced to come out several months from now.
Any potential sale is likely going to take some time.
We have reached out to Topps for comment but did not get an immediate reply.
Comments? Questions? Contact Ryan Cracknell on Twitter @tradercracks or by email.
Fanatics will be buying Topps. Take it to the bank.
Hmm, with the Topps Now program I think Topps is more profitable than it once was. It might make sense to break them up into two companies, but if they are both profitable ventures, I don’t see why they would sell.
Well it might the cards go up?, The cost of themselves, in the stores.
Topps is apparently profitable in both divisions if you believe the numbers put out there but the return to investors is probably lacking, given how little the value of the company has grown under private ownership so I could see why the private owners might want to sell one or both divisions and put that money towards something with more growth potential and returns.