Fanatics (sports retailer)

Fanatics, Inc.
Private
Founded Jacksonville, Florida, 1995 (1995)
Founder Alan Trager
Headquarters Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Area served
 United States
Key people
 Michael Rubin, Chairman Doug Mack, CEO
Products Licensed Sports Apparel & Collectibles
Owner Michael Rubin
Number of employees
 1800
Parent Kynetic
Website Fanaticsinc.com Fanatics.com

Fanatics is an online retailer of licensed sports apparel and merchandise, formed in 1995 and headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Fanatics offers product via its Fanatics and FansEdge brands, as well as sports collectibles and memorabilia through Fanatics Authentic and SportsMemorabilia.com. Fanatics, Inc. also currently powers the e-commerce sites of all major professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PGA, UFC), major media brands (NBC Sports, CBS Sports, FOX Sports) and over 150 collegiate and professional team properties.

Fanatics has relationships with over 1080 vendors, including companies such as Nike, Reebok, adidas, '47 Brand, Majestic, New Era, Mitchell & Ness, Under Armour, and over 1000 others. Fanatics, Inc. also owns Fanatics Apparel, which produces licensed sports apparel exclusively for the Fanatics umbrella of sites. Additional offices are located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Deerfield, Illinois; Conshohocken, Pennsylvania; Boulder, Colorado; and San Francisco, California.[1]

History

Formed in 1995, Fanatics, Inc. was originally started when brothers Alan and Mitch Trager opened Fanatics, a brick-and-mortar storefront in a Jacksonville mall focusing on Jacksonville Jaguars apparel.

Fanatics grew primarily through acquisitions. The first acquisition (2006) was Richard Perel's Marketsville, Inc sports web sites which included top college e-commerce property CollegeFootballStore.com. At the time Marketsville, Inc accounted for close to 25% of Fanatics online sales as an affiliate. Richard Perel stayed on board as a marketing executive at Fanatics until 2014, helping the company secure funding at a $3.1 billion valuation in 2013.

Subsequent acquisitions were Rupp Shirts based out of Tallahassee, Florida and Demand Made.

In 2011, Fanatics, Inc. was purchased by GSI Commerce, led by chairman Michael G. Rubin, for $171 million in cash and $106 Million of GSI Common stock.[2]

In 2012, Rubin purchased Fanatics outright from eBay, along with a 70% stake in Rue La La and ShopRunner, and formed the umbrella company Kynetic as a parent company.[3] Later that year, Fanatics acquired Florida-based rival Dreams, Inc. for $158 million in cash and $25 million in debt.

Michael Rubin is now worth $2.7 Billion and owns 72% of Fanatics,[4] after the last round of venture capital funding. As of June 2014, Fanatics was valued at $3.1 billion.[5]

As of April 2014, Doug Mack is the CEO of Fanatics, Inc., which currently has about 1,800 employees.[6]

Fanatics is ranked #42 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 in 2014.[7]

Notes

External links


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