On January 3rd, Trading card giant Topps has sold its collectables and cards business, both physical and digital, to a global sports retailer, merchandiser and now sports card and memorabilia giant Fanatics. The announcement came early on in the new year that the deal was worth over $500 million.

"With trading cards and collectables being a significant pillar of our long-term plans to become the leading digital sports platform, we are excited to add a leading trading cards company to build out our business,"

"Their iconic brand, commitment to product excellence and passionate employees worldwide will allow us to immediately serve our league and players' association partners and our fans."

Stated by Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin

Topps built up their reputation as being the leading organisation in the sports trading cards industry with over 80 years of existence, which began as a chewing gum company in 1938 and transitioned to selling baseball cards in 1951.

After the deal was finalised, all of the approximately 350 global Topps sports and entertainment employees will transition over into Fanatics Trading Cards. The move was suspected back in August, when Topps lost out on a deal to renew its longtime licensing with Major League Baseball to Fanatics. This resulted in ending Topps' ability to manufacture them after roughly over 60 years of being one of the sport's and hobby's most recognized brands.

Fanatics main objective is evident that they want to become a giant of the sports business world with a staggering value of $18 billion. Fanatics raised over $325 million from various investors, including rapper/music superstar Jay-Z, MLB and venture capital firm Silver Lake.

"With trading cards and collectibles being a significant pillar of our long-term plans to become the leading digital sports platform, we are excited to add a leading trading cards company to build out our business," said Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin in a statement on Tuesday.