Shohei Ohtani signs trading card deal with Fanatics-backed Topps
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.
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South Korea’s LG Energy Solution signs $4.3 billion battery supply deal with undisclosed party
Technology
CyberArk’s stock jumps on report Palo Alto Networks in talks to buy company for over $20 billion
Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, looks on during the closing bell at the Nasdaq Market in New York City, U.S., March 25, 2025.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
CyberArk shares soared as much as 18% on Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that cybersecurity provider Palo Alto Networks has held discussions to buy the identity management software maker for over $20 billion.
Cloud security is becoming an increasingly critical piece of the enterprise tech stack, especially as rapid advancements in artificial intelligence bring with them a whole new set of threats, and as ransomware attacks become more commonplace.
Founded in 2005, Palo Alto Networks has emerged in recent years as a consolidator in the cybersecurity industry and has grown into the biggest player in the space by market cap, with a valuation of over $130 billion. CEO Nikesh Arora, who was appointed to the job in 2018, has been on a spending spree, snapping up Protect AI in a deal that closed in July, and in 2023 buying Talon Cyber Security, Dig Security and Zycada Networks.
But CyberArk would represent by far Arora’s biggest bet yet. The Israeli company, which went public in 2014, provides technology that helps companies streamline the process of logging on to applications for employees.
CyberArk faces competition from Microsoft, Okta and IBM‘s HashiCorp. Another rival, SailPoint, returned to the public markets in February.
With Tuesday’s rally, CyberArk shares climbed to a record, surpassing their prior all-time high reached in February. The stock is up 29% this year, pushing the company’s market cap to almost $21 billion, after jumping 52% in 2024. Palo Alto shares, meanwhile, slid 3.5% on the report and are now up about 9% for the year.
Representatives from Palo Alto Networks and CyberArk declined to comment.
During the first quarter, CyberArk generated around $11.5 million in net income on around $318 million in revenue, which was up 43% from a year earlier.
It’s been an active stretch for big deals in the cyber market. Google said in March that it was spending $32 billion on Wiz, its largest acquisition on record by far, and a purchase intended to bolster its cloud business with greater AI security technology.
Networking giant Cisco also made its biggest deal ever in the security space, buying Splunk in 2023 for $28 billion. Splunk’s technology helps businesses monitor and analyze their data to minimize the risk of hacks and resolve technical issues faster.
— CNBC’s Ari Levy contributed to this report
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