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Sports platform Fanatics said on Thursday it had tapped former Dick Clark Productions CEO Mike Mahan to lead its trading card and digital collectibles business.
Fanatics Collectibles, which launched in 2021, includes its NFT branch Candy Digital, sports trading card brand Topps and zerocool – a trading card brand solely focused on pop culture, art and entertainment.
Mahan stepped down from his role at Dick Clark Productions, known for big TV events like the Golden Globe Awards and Billboard Music Awards, in 2020. Beginning his career as an investment banker for Bear Stearns, he recently entered into a agreement with male grooming company Manscaped to go public in a billion-dollar SPAC deal – which has yet to close – through his blank check firm Bright Lights Acquisition Corp .
“Our collectibles business has grown tremendously since launching last year, and we couldn’t be more confident in bringing Mike on board to shape the bright future of this division and its alignment within our largest digital sports platform Fanatics,” said Michael Rubin, CEO of Fanatics. said in a statement.
Mahan will report directly to Rubin.
“As an avid sports collector and fan, Mike’s vision for the trading card hobby and emerging digital collectibles properties, driven by exceptional products, will further position Fanatics as a leader in these categories, creating incredible opportunities for fans, collectors, hobby shops, retailers and our partners.”
Fanatics is the majority owner of Candy Digital, and Mike Novogratz, founder of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital, also has a stake. The company’s board members include Novogratz, Rubin and investor Gary Vaynerchuk. Investors include SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, Insight Partners and Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning.
Although it will remain its own entity, Candy Digital CEO Scott Lawin will report to Mahan as part of Fanatics Collectibles’ reorganization.
“I couldn’t imagine a more perfect next step in my career than leading the incredibly talented teams at Fanatics Collectibles, where I will have the opportunity to combine my entrepreneurial passions which lie in sports, marketing and content creation. , with my love for trading cards and collectibles in general,” Mahan said in a statement.
“The worlds of trading cards and digital collectibles have been forever reshaped in recent years, and these new assets and the connections they create have the ability to bring fans and collectors closer to players than ever before. , teams and artists they love.”
Last week, Fanatics announced that Topps would launch a line of trading cards this fall featuring college athletes, a deal the company says will cut some players on profits and associate them with college logos for the first time. school on the cards.
Fanatics recently raised a $1.5 billion funding round in March that values the sports platform company at $27 billion. The company ranked 21st on this year’s TBEN Disruptor 50 list.
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