NFT-Focused Topps Abandons Plan to Go Public in SPAC Merger

Legacy trading card company Topps has pulled out of its plan to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) following the loss of its exclusive deal to make baseball cards with Major League Baseball and MLB's players association, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

• MLB and its players association instead signed an exclusive deal with sports merchandise retailer Fanatics that begins in several years.
• Topps had reached a deal in April to merge with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC, and go public. The deal would have valued the combined company at $1.3 billion.
• Topps has been looking at blockchain and the non-fungible token market to be a “growth accelerator” for the 80-year-old company.
• Digital sales represent 6% of Topps’ revenue, according to Joel Belfer, a financial analyst at Guggenheim, but that could soon grow to be significantly more.