After raising more than $325 million in private investment this year from SoftBank, venture capital firms and celebrities including Jay-Z, Jacksonville-based Fanatics is looking to expand into new businesses.
The company is looking to transition from being an online retailer of professional and college sports-related items into one that also provides gaming, e-sports options and non-fungible tokens.
This metamorphosis led to an executive reshuffling that will see Michael Rubin transition from executive chairman to CEO of the broader company.
Rubin founded Kynetic, the company that purchased the former Orange Park company about a decade ago.
Doug Mack, who had been CEO of Fanatics, will continue to oversee the company’s core business, which the company said is the base from which it will grow.
Mack will also serve as the vice chairman of the broader company.
Rubin told CNBC Tuesday morning that Fanatics believes it can be a leading digital sports platform, where fans can acquire any digital sports product they desire.
“We’ve created the best database in all of sports,” Rubin told the network. “We have more than 83 million sports fans who come to Fanatics that love Fanatics and we want to give them, the digital sports fan, anything they want.”
Fanatics purchased nine companies in the last 10 years and expects to develop through a combination of organic growth as well as mergers and acquisitions.
Based on that growth, the company raised $352 million in funding, with investors including SoftBank, Silver Lake Eldridge, TWG Sports Media & Entertainment, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and others.
The investment reflects a valuation of more than $18 billion, a 40.6 % increase from how much the company was valued at in March valuation and a 190.3% spike from its August 2020 valuation.
The Wall Street Journal reports Fanatics expects to have revenues of $3.4 billion this year, a 30.8% increase from 2020.
As part of the reorganization, Glenn Schiffman will serve as the CFO of the wider company.
Former FanDuel CEO Matt King was brought in to help Fanatics develop its sports betting, iGaming and media opportunities.
Last month, Fanatics lured former Los Angeles Dodgers team President Tucker Kain to join its ranks as its chief strategy and growth officer.
“As we enter other businesses, whether it’s a new business or a highly competitive business, we are ambitious,” Rubin told CNBC. “We want to be the No. 1, No. 2 player — hopefully No. 1 — in every business we enter over time.”
