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The Topps Company
The Topps Company launched in 1938 as a family gum business before pivoting to Bazooka bubble gum and then trading cards, becoming synonymous with...
The Topps Company
The Topps Company launched in 1938 as a family gum business before pivoting to Bazooka bubble gum and then trading cards, becoming synonymous with baseball card collecting for generations. Michael Eisner, the former Disney CEO, took control through his family investment office The Tornante Company in 2007 in a $385 million take-private deal alongside Madison Dearborn Partners. Eisner repositioned the firm away from physical manufacturing toward a brand-licensing model, shuttering the Pennsylvania confectionery and card-printing plant and outsourcing production. Under Eisner's 16-year holding, Topps expanded beyond sports cards into digital collectibles, mobile apps, and entertainment properties. The portfolio included Topps BUNT (an MLB-licensed digital trading card app), Topps KICK for soccer, and ventures into non-fungible tokens built on the WAX blockchain. Asset-class mix skewed heavily toward intellectual property licensing across physical trading cards, digital collectibles, and confectionery brands — including Bazooka, Ring Pop, and Push Pop. Geographic footprint centered on North America but extended into Europe and Japan through soccer-license agreements and regional card distributions. In January 2023, Fanatics acquired the trading card division from Tornante for roughly $500 million, folding the Topps name into Fanatics Collectibles alongside exclusive MLB, MLBPA, NBA, NBPA, and NFLPA deals. The transaction left Eisner retaining Topps' confectionery business — Bazooka Candy Brands — under a separate entity, while Fanatics took the globally recognized Topps card brand. Fanatics Collectibles now operates with the Topps imprint from its main hub, manufacturing cards for major US sports leagues and integrating the digital platforms Eisner built. Topps exists now as a hybrid: a legacy consumer brand operating inside a vertically integrated sports-commerce platform. Fanatics' model bundles licensed merchandise manufacturing with direct-to-consumer distribution, data, and live-commerce capabilities — a structure that treats Topps not as a standalone card company but as the designated trading-card label within a larger ecosystem. The Eisner family retains control of the candy business, which owns enduring grocery-aisle brands but operates wholly separate from the collectibles unit.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
1938
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Principals
Michael Eisner
Former Owner (via The Tornante Company, 2007-2023)
Fanatics
Owner (since 2023)
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who owns The Topps Company today?
The Topps trading card and collectibles business is owned by Fanatics, which acquired the division in January 2023. The confectionery arm — Bazooka Candy Brands — was retained by Michael Eisner and The Tornante Company and operates separately. Fanatics Collectibles runs the card brand under exclusive leagues licenses.
Was Topps ever a public company?
Yes, Topps traded publicly on NASDAQ under the ticker TOPP before Michael Eisner's Tornante Company and Madison Dearborn Partners took it private in 2007 for approximately $385 million. The firm had considered going public again through a SPAC merger in 2021, but the deal was terminated before execution.
Does Topps still manufacture physical trading cards?
Yes, under Fanatics ownership, Topps-branded physical cards are manufactured through Fanatics Collectibles. However, the historic Topps factory in Duryea, Pennsylvania was closed after the Eisner acquisition in 2007, and production was outsourced. Today, cards are produced through Fanatics' global manufacturing network.
How did the relationship between Topps and Major League Baseball change?
Topps historically held the exclusive MLB trading card license for decades. After Fanatics disrupted the market by securing exclusive licenses directly with MLB, the MLBPA, and other leagues starting around 2022, Fanatics subsequently acquired Topps to integrate the brand. Topps now operates under those Fanatics-held licenses.
What happened to the Topps NFTs and digital apps?
Topps launched digital collectibles through apps like Topps BUNT and later entered the NFT market during the 2021 boom. After the Fanatics acquisition, the digital platforms were integrated into Fanatics Collectibles. Fanatics sold its own Candy Digital NFT business in 2023, with the Topps digital apps continuing under the merged card division.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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