Fanatics is a company that operates in the sports and collectibles industries. The company sells licensed sports merchandise, but is also involved in sports-related trading cards and collectibles, betting and live events.
Key highlights:
You currently can’t trade Fanatics stock on the stock market, as the company is privately owned.
Occasionally, Fanatics stock holders might offer their stocks on marketplaces for private company stocks.
Although it’s likely that Fanatics will have an IPO in the future, the Fanatics IPO date is currently unknown.
Is it possible to buy Fanatics stock?
With a projected $8 billion in revenue in 2024 and a company valuation of $31 billion as of December 2022, Fanatics could certainly be a compelling investment opportunity. Unfortunately, Fanatics isn’t listed on a stock exchange, so it’s quite difficult for the average investor to invest in the company.
There are marketplaces where investors can access private company stocks, although they have limited availability and liquidity. Private company stocks only become available to regular investor if a shareholder in a private company decides to sell their stock and makes an offer on one of these marketplaces. Some platforms where it’s possible to purchase shares in a private company are EquityZen, CartaX and Linqto.
About Fanatics
Fanatics was founded in 2011 by Michael Rubin, who continues to serve as the company’s CEO. However, the history of the company can be traced all the way back to 1998, when Rubin founded Global Sports Incorporated, which later became an e-commerce company called GSI Commerce. GSI Commerce was acquired by eBay for $2.4 billion, but Rubin decided to buy back the sports e-commerce arm of the company and continuing under the name Fanatics.
Fanatics is involved in several sectors of the sports and collectibles industries:
Fanatics Commerce: Designs, manufactures and sells licensed jerseys and other wearable products.
Fanatics Collectibles: Designs and produces physical and digital trading cards as well as other types of sports memorabilia.
Fanatics Betting & Gaming: Operates the Fanatics Sportsbook app, as well as physical locations for sports betting. The business is also building an online casino.
Fanatics Collect: A marketplace for buying and selling trading cards and memorabilia.
Fanatics Events: Live events for sports fans and collectors.
Fanatics revenue and valuation
As a privately held company, the revenue generated by Fanatics is not publicly available information. However, we occasionally get information about Fanatics’ revenue from news reports and company officials. For example, the company estimated that it would generate $8 billion in revenue in 2023.
As far as the valuation of Fanatics is concerned, the numbers are more concrete. In December of 2022, Fanatics announced that it raised $700 million in a funding round that valued the company at $31 billion. This represented a 72.2% increase from the $18 billion valuation the company had when it raised $325 million in a funding round announced in August 2021.
However, the company’s valuation might have declined since its latest funding round, as Bloomberg reported in September of 2024 that the company was exploring a sale of employee shares at a valuation of $25 billion.
Is Fanatics publicly traded?
No, Fanatics is not publicly traded at the moment. This means that you can’t buy the company’s stock on the stock market.
However, it seems very likely that Fanatics will become publicly traded at some point in the future.
One of the clearest signals that Fanatics intends to eventually go public are strategic hires. The company has hired Andrew Low Ah Kee to lead their merchandise business, and has also hired Deborah Crawford as the company’s head of investor relations.
In addition, Fanatics CFO and EVP Glenn Schiffman has stated that the company will eventually go public. In a CNBC article published in April of 2023, Schiffman was quoted as saying:
“We’re not going public near term. We’ve thought about it medium term. Eventually, we will go public.”
In the same interview, Schiffman said that the company was looking at a 12 to 24 month timeline to go public, although he made sure to clarify that the company’s IPO plans and timeline will depend on market conditions and the company’s goals.
FAQs
Is Fanatics on the stock market?
No, Fanatics is currently not on the stock market, although company officials have mentioned the possibility of an IPO at a future date.
Who owns Fanatics now?
The exact ownership of Fanatics is not public information, as the company is held privately. A significant share of the company is likely owned by its founder and CEO Michael Rubin, but we also have to keep in mind that Fanatics has raised substantial amounts of capital from investors such as SoftBank, Silver Lake Partners, Fidelity Investments and others.
When is the Fanatics IPO date?
The Fanatics IPO date is currently unknown.
The bottom line
Investing in Fanatics is currently not possible for the average investor, unless you manage to find Fanatics stock for sale on private market platforms such as EquityZen or Linqto. However, if you’re interested in investing in Fanatics, the good news is that company officials have stated that the company will eventually go public, but the Fanatics IPO timeline is currently unclear.
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