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Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, #17, watches his ball soar after hitting his first home run as a Dodger off of Giants pitcher Taylor Rogers, # 33, in the seventh inning at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles Wednesday, April 3, 2024.

Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Several months after Fanatics signed NBA superstar Lebron James to an exclusive wide-ranging trading cards and collectibles deal, Fanatics-owned Topps has signed an exclusive long-term global trading card deal with one of baseball’s biggest stars: Shohei Ohtani.

The new deal, which begins immediately, will include autographed and game-used memorabilia cards, focusing on both U.S.- and Japan-based products. Ohtani and Topps previously had a partnership that dated back to 2018, but that deal was non-exclusive. Ohtani also has an exclusive memorabilia partnership with Fanatics that focuses on selling autographed collectibles and products like jerseys and baseballs.

Since acquiring Topps for $500 million in 2022, Fanatics has looked to elevate the once sleepy industry of trading card collecting, aiming to grow the hobby with both casual sports fans who may buy a pack of cards at a big box retailer like Target or Walmart at the start of a season as well as the more investment-driven collector willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for rare and unique cards.  

David Leiner, president of trading cards at Fanatics Collectibles, said partnerships like this one with Ohtani help “push the category” and it goes beyond just having Ohtani sign cards that will end up randomly in packs.

“What we’ve tried to do with the top players in the world is not just have them sign 1,000 cards sitting in a hotel room for two hours,” Leiner said. “We want to bring them in as a true partner, help promote the products, understand the products, and design products with us.”

Ohtani, the two-time MVP who signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023, is in the midst of another potentially historic season and is on track to potentially become the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season.

Leiner said Ohtani’s already massive global popularity will help further expand the Topps brand and trading cards. Less than 10% of Topps’ business is currently driven from outside North America, Leiner said, although that is “growing significantly.”

Topps does not disclose its revenue, but as part of a potential SPAC deal it floated in 2021, the company reported it had record sales of $567 million in 2020, a 23% year-over-year increase. That SPAC deal was later canceled after Fanatics acquired the MLB trading card rights, which ultimately led to Fanatics’ acquisition of the company.

Even amid larger consumer spending concerns, Leiner said that Topps is continuing to see growth, a reflection of the expansion of the trading card industry in recent years as well as Fanatics’ continued investment. “[Fanatics founder] Michael Rubin poured fuel on a fire,” Leiner said.

Beyond baseball, Fanatics has acquired the exclusive rights to distribute trading cards for several other sports, including the NBA and NFL in coming years.

“The business is as healthy as it has ever been,” Leiner said, adding that the company is seeing expansion across the various lines of its business from direct-to-consumer offerings to hobby shop sales and retail, and within the secondary market.

“When [Rubin] acquired Topps, he publicly stated that he thought we were in the second or third inning and there was a lot more to go,” Leiner said. “I think he’s put his money where his mouth is and we’re achieving that growth.”

Fanatics raised $700 million in December 2022 to bring its valuation to $31 billion, capital that it planned to use on potential merger and acquisition opportunities across its collectibles, betting and gaming businesses, according to CNBC. Fanatics is a three-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company, and ranked No. 21 in 2022.

Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin on Fanatics Fest NYC: There's never been a sports festival in the world

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Apple’s 3-day loss in market cap swells to almost $640 billion

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Apple's 3-day loss in market cap swells to almost 0 billion

(L-R) Apple CEO Tim Cook, Vivek Ramaswamy and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem attend the inauguration ceremony before Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025.

Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images

While the stock market broadly fared better on Monday than in the prior two trading days, Apple got hammered once again, losing 3.7%, as concerns mounted that the company will take a major hit from President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The sell-off brings Apple’s three-day rout to 19%, a downdraft that has wiped out $638 billion in market cap.

Apple is one of the most exposed companies to a trade war, analyst say, due largely to its reliance on China, which is facing 54% tariffs. Although Apple has production in India, Vietnam and Thailand, those countries also face increased tariffs as part of Trump’s sweeping plan.

Among tech’s megacap companies, Apple is having the roughest stretch. On Monday, the only stocks to drop in that group of seven were Apple, Microsoft and Tesla.

The Nasdaq finished almost barely up on Monday after plummeting 10% last week, its worst performance in more than five years.

Analysts say Apple will likely either need to raise prices or eat additional tariff costs when the new duties come into effect. UBS analysts estimated on Monday that Apple’s highest-end iPhone could rise in price by about $350, or around 30%, from its current price of $1,199.

Barclays analyst Tim Long wrote that he expects Apple to raise prices, or the company could suffer as much as a 15% cut to earnings per share. Apple may also be able to rearrange its supply chain so that imports to the U.S. come from other countries with lower tariffs.

Apple declined to comment on the tariffs.

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Apple’s highest-end iPhone could see $350 price hike in U.S. on Trump tariffs, analyst predicts

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Apple's highest-end iPhone could see 0 price hike in U.S. on Trump tariffs, analyst predicts

A customer checks Apple’s latest iPhone 16 Plus (right) and Apple’s latest iPhone 16 Pro Max (left) series displayed for sale at Master Arts Shop in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on Sept. 26, 2024.

Firdous Nazir | Nurphoto | Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs could lead Apple to raise the price of the iPhone 16 Pro Max by as much as $350 in the U.S., UBS analysts estimated Monday.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is Apple’s highest-end iPhone on the market, and currently retails for $1,199. UBS is predicting a nearly 30% increase in retail price for units that were manufactured in China.

Apple’s $999 phone, the iPhone 16 Pro, could see a smaller $120 price increase, if the company has it manufactured in India, the UBS analysts wrote.

Shares of Apple have plummeted 20% over the past three trading days, wiping out nearly $640 billion in market cap, on concern that Trump’s tariffs will force the company to raise prices just as consumers are losing buying power.

“Based on the checks we have done at a company level, there is a lot of uncertainty about how the increased cost sharing will be done with suppliers, the extent to which costs can be passed on to end-customers, and the duration of tariffs,” UBS analyst Sundeep Gantori wrote in the note.

Apple, which does the majority of its manufacturing in China, is one of the most exposed companies to a trade war. China has a potential incoming 54% tariff rate — before new increases were proposed Monday. Smaller tariffs were also placed on secondary production locations, such as India, Vietnam and Thailand.

JPMorgan Chase analysts predicted last week that Apple could raise its prices 6% across the world to offset the U.S. tariffs. Barclays analyst Tim Long wrote that he expects Apple to raise prices, or it could suffer as much as a 15% cut to earnings per share.

If Apple were to relocate iPhone production to the U.S. — a move that most supply chain experts say is impossible — Wedbush’s Dan Ives predicts an iPhone could cost $3,500.

Morgan Stanley analysts on Friday said Apple could absorb additional tariff costs of about $34 billion annually. They wrote that although Apple has diversified its production in recent years to additional countries — so-called friendshoring — those countries could also end up with tariffs, reducing Apple’s flexibility.

After last week’s “reciprocal tariff announcement, there becomes very little differentiation in friend shoring vs. manufacturing in China — if the product is not made in the US, it will be subject to a hefty import tariff,” Morgan Stanley wrote.

Last week, the firm estimated that Apple may raise its prices across its product lines in the U.S. by 17% to 18%. Apple could also get exemptions from the U.S. government for its products.

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Elon Musk’s brother slams Trump tariffs, calls them ‘permanent tax on the American consumer’

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Elon Musk's brother slams Trump tariffs, calls them 'permanent tax on the American consumer'

Kimbal Musk, co-founder of The Kitchen Community, speaks during the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, May 3, 2016.

Patrick T. Fallon  | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Elon Musk’s younger brother, Kimbal, took to the social network X on Monday to lambaste President Donald Trump’s tariffs, calling them a “structural, permanent tax on the American consumer.” He also said Trump appears to be the “most high tax American President in generations.”

“Even if he is successful in bringing jobs on shore through the tariff tax, prices will remain high and the tax on consumption will remain the form of higher prices because we are simply not as good at making things,” Kimbal Musk wrote on X, one of the companies in his brother’s extensive portfolio.

The younger Musk owns a restaurant chain called The Kitchen, is a board member at Tesla and a former director at SpaceX and Chipotle. He has also co-founded and invested in other food and tech startups, including Square Roots, an indoor farming company, and Nova Sky Stories, a creator of drone light shows that he bought from Intel.

Elon Musk is a top advisor to Trump, overseeing the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, an effort to drastically cut federal spending, largely through layoffs, and consolidate or eliminate agencies and regulations. However, his relationship with some key figures in the Trump administration has been showing signs of strain in recent days as the president’s sweeping tariffs have led to a dramatic selloff in stocks, including for Tesla, which is down 42% this year and just wrapped up its worst quarter since 2022.

Over the weekend, Elon Musk took aim at Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro, disparaging his qualifications in a post on X.

“A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,” Musk wrote, after Navarro told CNN on Saturday that “The market will find a bottom” and that the Dow will “hit 50,000 during Trump’s term.” It’s currently at about 38,200.

Musk also said that Navarro hasn’t built “sh—.” Navarro told CNBC on Monday that Musk is “not a car manufacturer” but rather a “car assembler,” dependent on parts from Japan, China and Taiwan.

Tesla was seeking a more moderate approach to trade and tariffs in a recent letter to the U.S. Trade Representative.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, Kimbal Musk this year has contributed funds to the Libertarian National Committee and Libertarian Party of Connecticut. In 2024, while his brother became the biggest financial backer and promoter of Trump, Kimbal donated to Unite America PAC, a group that markets itself as a “philanthropic venture fund that invests in nonpartisan election reform to foster a more representative and functional government.”

A representative for Kimbal Musk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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