Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner to take trading card company Topps public in $1.3 billion SPAC deal
Former Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner is getting in on the SPAC boom.
Eisner disclosed Tuesday that his firm The Tornante Company, which purchased trading card company Topps in 2007 for $385 million, will roll 100% of its equity into a new public entity dubbed Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II. The transaction will see the return of Topps to the public markets in a deal valued at $1.3 billion. Topps will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "TOPP."
Mudrick Capital Acquisition II, a SPAC founded by Mudrick Capital's Jason Mudrick, will contribute $100 million to the deal. Mudrick recently rose to fame by reportedly scoring hundreds of millions of dollars in profits on debt and equity trades on AMC and GameStop during the meme stock frenzy earlier this year.
Eisner will remain chairman of the Topps board. Other high-profile names on the board will include Jill Ellis, coach of the U.S. Women’s 2014 and 2019 FIFA World Cup champions; Maria Seferian, general counsel of Hillspire LLC; and Marc Lasry, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group.
Topps' long-time CEO Michael Brandstaedter will continue to lead the company.
“The strong emotional connection between the Topps brand and consumers of all ages is truly foundational, and, when combined with our growing portfolio of strategic licensing partnerships, creates a profitable business model with meaningful competitive advantages. Equally important, the management team at the helm of Topps, which we’ve been building for the last 14 years, is outstanding, with deep roots in sports and entertainment, digital, gift cards and confections. With our new partners at Mudrick Capital, Topps will continue its long history of innovation and global expansion, bringing consumers the best of collectibles and confections products while successfully extending into new verticals and emerging categories to take advantage of digital content innovation and high growth opportunities across the globe. That is why I’m not selling a single share of Topps stock in this transaction,” Eisner said in a statement.
Topps is mostly focused on four areas of business at the moment: trading cards, stickers and albums sold via licenses with the MLB, Star Wars, World Wrestling Entertainment and others; digital card memorabilia; gift cards used to pay for services such as Netflix, Airbnb, Nike and Uber; and candy under popular brands like Bazooka and Ring Pop. Total sales in 2020 clocked in at a record $567 million, up 23% year-over-year.
Topps revealed it's pursing an entry into the surging NFT space, too.
"We believe Topps’ culture of innovation, strong management team, expanding margins, robust cash flow and conservative balance sheet set it apart from other consumer growth companies. It also is well situated with a universally recognized brand to capitalize on the fast emerging market for collectible NFTs. We are excited to partner with this exceptional organization to help write the next chapter in the long history of its truly iconic brand,” Mudrick said in a statement.
Programming note: Eisner and Mudrick will be appearing on Yahoo Finance Live today at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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