Who Owns Topps Baseball Card Company?

After 70 years, Topps is still the king of baseball cards. See how this family-run business got started and who owns it today.

Introduction

Topps is an American company that produces baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, and trading cards. It is currently headquartered in New York City. The company was founded in 1938 by Sylvester Polan and Morris Shorin. Topps was one of the first companies to produce baseball cards on a large scale.

History of Topps

Topps has been around since 1938 and has been the go-to baseball card company ever since. The company got its start when a 19-year-old entrepreneur, Sy Berger, came up with the idea to create baseball cards that would be sold in packs of gum. That first year, Topps sold over a million packs of baseball cards. Today, the company is still going strong and is now owned by a group of investors.

Pre-Topps

Pre-Topps cards were produced by a number of companies, the first being the Berk Ross Company in 1950, which featured 44 cards of baseball players as well as other celebrities from the world of entertainment. These cards are now very rare and valuable. Other companies followed suit, producing cards of varying quality and quantity until Topps entered the fray in 1951.

Topps

Topps is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. It is best known as a producer of baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards and trading cards. Topps also produces several other sports and entertainment products such as Wacky Packages, Movie Planet Cards and Garbage Pail Kids.

The company was founded in 1938 by four brothers: Abe, Ira, Charles and Philip Topper. The name “Topps” was derived from the first initials of the four brothers (T/opps). The company’s first product was a gum called “Bazooka Bubble Gum”, which was packaged with a comic strip on the wrapper.

In the 1950s, Topps began producing baseball cards. These were very popular and Topps became the exclusive producer of Major League Baseball cards from 1956 to 1980. In 2010, Topps once again became the exclusive producer of MLB cards.

Topps has also produced other types of collectibles throughout its history. These have included jigsaw puzzles,Plaks (plastic records), stickers,enzymes and oddly enough, even lollipops. In the 1990s,Topps launched an unsuccessful attempt to enter the collectible market with a product called “3D Glasses”.

In recent years, Topps has been expanding its reach into digital media. It now offers digital versions of some of its products including baseball cards and Wacky Packages. In 2012,Topps created an app for the iPhone called “Bunt”, which allows users to trade virtual baseball cards with each other.

Topps Today

The Topps Company, Inc., manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. It is headquartered in New York City. The company was founded in 1938 by Abram, Philip, and Joseph Horowitz, who were all immigrants from Poland. They initially sold tobacco products and later started selling candy.

Products

Topps today is one of the leading baseball card and collectibles companies. They also produce football, basketball, hockey, and other sports cards, as well as cards for movies and television shows. Topps is also the exclusive provider of MLB photos. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in New York City.

Licensing

In 1975, Topps licensed the exclusive rights to produce Major League baseball cards and related products. This contract expired in 2005. In 2006 Topps was outbid by Upper Deck for a five-year contract to be the exclusive baseball card maker. The new contract also featured bonus exclusivity rights for Topps in specific categories, including U.S. manufactured trading cards, collectible coins and stamped metal collectibles through 2016.

The Future of Topps

In 2007, Topps was sold to an investment group for $385 million. The new owners quickly put the company up for sale, but no buyers were forthcoming. In 2012, Topps filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and emerged from bankruptcy the following year under the ownership of its creditors.

Topps is currently owned by a group of investment firms led by Michael Eisner’s Tornante Company and includes Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC, Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. and P2 Capital Partners. The company is headquartered in New York City.

Conclusion

Topps baseball cards are currently owned by a private equity firm called The Tornante Company. Michael Eisner, the former CEO of The Walt Disney Company, is the chief executive officer of Tornante. Topps was previously publically traded on the New York Stock Exchange.