New York, NY. – December 7th. Portrait for a profile on Fanatics founder & CEO Michael Rubin at his office in downtown NYC.
The Washington Post | Getty Images
Fanatics is moving into livestreamed shopping around collectibles and trading cards, hiring a former Snap and Alphabet executive to launch its new business later this year.
Nick Bell, who previously led teams responsible for Google Search experience and was Snap’s global head of content and partnerships, will serve as the CEO of Fanatics Live, a new business division for the sports platform company.
Fanatics Live, which will have a standalone app and a coinciding website, plans to launch in the second half of 2023. The aim is to create a digital customer shopping experience where you can buy trading cards and other collectibles via curated and personality-driven content and entertainment. Fanatics will receive a percentage of each transaction.
“All collectors are fans, but not all fans are collectors,” said Bell, who will be based in Los Angeles and report to Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan. “We have a big opportunity to really grow the hobby by bringing in people who wouldn’t necessarily classify themselves as a collector today and open them up to this hobby by the way of entertainment and a community where they can hang around like-minded people.”
Nick Bell, then of Snap speaks onstage last January in Pasadena, California.
Frederick M. Brown | Getty Images
Bell said one area of early focus will be around “breaking,” a form of social trading card buying that is growing in popularity. Similar to a blind raffle, a set number of individuals purchase an entry from a seller — called a “spot” — and the seller then opens an entire case of trading cards live online and allocates each of them.
“This is not just about taking a product and selling it; it’s about creating this really entertaining format and experience,” Bell said.
Livestream shopping has been growing in popularity in the U.S., aided by the pandemic-fueled rise in online commerce as well as brands and retailers looking to connect with shoppers at home on their phones and computers. Nordstrom, Petco, and Macy’s-owned Bloomingdale’s are just some of the retailers that have experimented with livestreamed sales.
Walmart, Amazon, eBay, TikTok already in the livestream e-commerce market
Walmart hosts a livestreamed shopping experience called Walmart Live, where recent events centered on Valentine’s Day picks, New Years resolutions and fitness-related items. Amazon has its own live shoppable videos, where individual creators can host videos promoting products. Ebay has its Live platform where sellers can livestream auctions and promote other online sales.
TikTok made its shopping feature available to select U.S. businesses this fall after previously partnering with Shopify to allow users to shop in-app. YouTube partnered with Shopify in July to allow video creators to feature products across their channels and content. Meta shut down the live shopping feature on Facebook in October, but still has a similar functionality on Instagram.
In the U.S., the livestreaming e-commerce market is expected to grow to an estimated $32 billion this year, according to consumer market research group Coresight Research. That is up from $6 billion in 2020.
But there have been some hiccups as the modern version of QVC has not taken off as much as it has in Asia. Douyin, the Chinese sister app to TikTok, reported that it generated $119 billion worth of product sales via live broadcasts in 2021, and sales have more than tripled year-over-year.
Only 31% of U.S. adults have even heard of live shopping, with just 22% saying they’ve participated in a live shopping event, according to a December poll by Morning Consult.
Bell said that while livestreaming and social commerce “hasn’t taken off yet” in the U.S., “it’s just inevitable that it is going to happen.”
“There’s a lot of development to do around the format – shopping should become a byproduct of entertainment rather than how I think a lot of folks have been thinking about it, which is more akin to how we would think about QVC where it’s just about the shopping,” Bell said. “I think we’re moving to a slightly different world where it’s actually about the content and the community, and the shopping is the byproduct.”
Leveraging Topps brand in latest sports venture
For Fanatics, there is a big opportunity to establish itself as the hub for the trading card industry that is projected to reach $98.7 billion by 2027, according to Verified Market Research
Other companies are also looking to do the same, as well as develop an online marketplace around trading cards. Ebay, which said it saw trading card sales increase 142% in 2020, acquired trading card marketplace TCGPlayer for $295 million in August. Goldin, which was acquired by an investment group led by hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen in July 2021, launched an online card marketplace last month.
But Fanatics effort will be aided by its acquisition of Topps trading cards for roughly $500 million last January. Topps holds MLB’s trading cards rights, as well as rights for MLS, UEFA, Bundesliga and Formula 1. Fanatics also had previously struck deals to exclusively produce NFL and NBA cards starting in 2026.
“This hobby has so many people in the middle of it and perfectly set up to have an integrated direct-to-consumer experience,” Fanatics founder and CEO Michael Rubin said at the time of the Topps acquisition.
Bell said the collection of card rights and the connection to Topps is a “huge strategic advantage.” While Fanatics Live could move into other forms of entertainment and collectibles over time, it will solely focus on trading cards initially.
The deeper push into collectibles is the latest effort from Fanatics to become a one-stop shop for sports fans. Initially started as an e-commerce company selling sports merchandise, the company has evolved to hold the apparel rights to nearly every sports property with a database of more than 94 million fans.
The company is also circling the sports betting market, looking to take on operators like Flutter-owned FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars and BetMGM, which is co-owned by MGM Resorts
Fanatics opened its first sportsbook last month at FedEx Field, the home of the NFL’s Washington Commanders, and was in discussions to acquire BetParx sportsbook, according to previous CNBC reporting.
Last year, Rubin sold his 10% stake in Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment, the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, allowing Fanatics to enter the gambling space. NBA rules prohibit team owners from operating a gambling platform.
Fanatics raised $700 million in December 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.
The company estimates its revenue for Fanatics, including its Lids segment, will be approximately $8 billion in 2023.
CNBC is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Disruptor 50 list – our 11th annual look at the most innovative venture-backed companies. Learn more about eligibility and how to submit an application by Friday, Feb. 17.
An employee walks past a quilt displaying Etsy Inc. signage at the company’s headquarters in the Brooklyn.
Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Etsy is trying to make it easier for shoppers to purchase products from local merchants and avoid the extra cost of imports as President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs raise concerns about soaring prices.
In a post to Etsy’s website on Thursday, CEO Josh Silverman said the company is “surfacing new ways for buyers to discover businesses in their countries” via shopping pages and by featuring local sellers on its website and app.
“While we continue to nurture and enable cross-border trade on Etsy, we understand that people are increasingly interested in shopping domestically,” Silverman said.
Etsy operates an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers with mostly artisanal and handcrafted goods. The site, which had 5.6 million active sellers as of the end of December, competes with e-commerce juggernaut Amazon, as well as newer entrants that have ties to China like Temu, Shein and TikTok Shop.
By highlighting local sellers, Etsy could relieve some shoppers from having to pay higher prices induced by President Trump’s widespread tariffs on trade partners. Trump has imposed tariffs on most foreign countries, with China facing a rate of 145%, and other nations facing 10% rates after he instituted a 90-day pause to allow for negotiations. Trump also signed an executive order that will end the de minimis provision, a loophole for low-value shipments often used by online businesses, on May 2.
Temu and Shein have already announced they plan to raise prices late next week in response to the tariffs. Sellers on Amazon’s third-party marketplace, many of whom source their products from China, have said they’re considering raising prices.
Silverman said Etsy has provided guidance for its sellers to help them “run their businesses with as little disruption as possible” in the wake of tariffs and changes to the de minimis exemption.
Before Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs took effect, Silverman said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in late February that he expects Etsy to benefit from the tariffs and de minimis restrictions because it “has much less dependence on products coming in from China.”
“We’re doing whatever work we can do to anticipate and prepare for come what may,” Silverman said at the time. “In general, though, I think Etsy will be more resilient than many of our competitors in these situations.”
Still, American shoppers may face higher prices on Etsy as U.S. businesses that source their products or components from China pass some of those costs on to consumers.
Etsy shares are down 17% this year, slightly more than the Nasdaq.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies before the House Judiciary Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on December 11, 2018 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
Google’s antitrust woes are continuing to mount, just as the company tries to brace for a future dominated by artificial intelligence.
On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that Google held illegal monopolies in online advertising markets due to its position between ad buyers and sellers.
The ruling, which followed a September trial in Alexandria, Virginia, represents a second major antitrust blow for Google in under a year. In August, a judge determined the company has held a monopoly in its core market of internet search, the most-significant antitrust ruling in the tech industry since the case against Microsoftmore than 20 years ago.
Google is in a particularly precarious spot as it tries to simultaneously defend its primary business in court while fending off an onslaught of new competition due to the emergence of generative AI, most notably OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which offers users alternative ways to search for information. Revenue growth has cooled in recent years, and Google also now faces the added potential of a slowdown in ad spending due to economic concerns from President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs.
Parent company Alphabet reports first-quarter results next week. Alphabet’s stock price dipped more than 1% on Thursday and is now down 20% this year.
In Thursday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said Google’s anticompetitive practices “substantially harmed” publishers and users on the web. The trial featured 39 live witnesses, depositions from an additional 20 witnesses and hundreds of exhibits.
Judge Brinkema ruled that Google unlawfully controls two of the three parts of the advertising technology market: the publisher ad server market and ad exchange market. Brinkema dismissed the third part of the case, determining that tools used for general display advertising can’t clearly be defined as Google’s own market. In particular, the judge cited the purchases of DoubleClick and Admeld and said the government failed to show those “acquisitions were anticompetitive.”
“We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president or regulatory affairs, said in an emailed statement. “We disagree with the Court’s decision regarding our publisher tools. Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release from the DOJ that the ruling represents a “landmark victory in the ongoing fight to stop Google from monopolizing the digital public square.”
Potential ad disruption
If regulators force the company to divest parts of the ad-tech business, as the Justice Department has requested, it could open up opportunities for smaller players and other competitors to fill the void and snap up valuable market share. Amazon has been growing its ad business in recent years.
Meanwhile, Google is still defending itself against claims that its search has acted as a monopoly by creating strong barriers to entry and a feedback loop that sustained its dominance. Google said in August, immediately after the search case ruling, that it would appeal, meaning the matter can play out in court for years even after the remedies are determined.
The remedies trial, which will lay out the consequences, begins next week. The Justice Department is aiming for a break up of Google’s Chrome browser and eliminating exclusive agreements, like its deal with Apple for search on iPhones. The judge is expected to make the ruling by August.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai (L) and Apple CEO Tim Cook (R) listen as U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a roundtable with American and Indian business leaders in the East Room of the White House on June 23, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
After the ad market ruling on Thursday, Gartner’s Andrew Frank said Google’s “conflicts of interest” are apparent by how the market runs.
“The structure has been decades in the making,” Frank said, adding that “untangling that would be a significant challenge, particularly since lawyers don’t tend to be system architects.”
However, the uncertainty that comes with a potentially years-long appeals process means many publishers and advertisers will be waiting to see how things shake out before making any big decisions given how much they rely on Google’s technology.
“Google will have incentives to encourage more competition possibly by loosening certain restrictions on certain media it controls, YouTube being one of them,” Frank said. “Those kind of incentives may create opportunities for other publishers or ad tech players.”
A date for the remedies trial hasn’t been set.
Damian Rollison, senior director of market insights for marketing platform Soci, said the revenue hit from the ad market case could be more dramatic than the impact from the search case.
“The company stands to lose a lot more in material terms if its ad business, long its main source of revenue, is broken up,” Rollison said in an email. “Whereas divisions like Chrome are more strategically important.”
Jason Citron, CEO of Discord in Washington, DC, on January 31, 2024.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
The New Jersey attorney general sued Discord on Thursday, alleging that the company misled consumers about child safety features on the gaming-centric social messaging app.
The lawsuit, filed in the New Jersey Superior Court by Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state’s division of consumer affairs, alleges that Discord violated the state’s consumer fraud laws.
Discord did so, the complaint said, by allegedly “misleading children and parents from New Jersey” about safety features, “obscuring” the risks children face on the platform and failing to enforce its minimum age requirement.
“Discord’s strategy of employing difficult to navigate and ambiguous safety settings to lull parents and children into a false sense of safety, when Discord knew well that children on the Application were being targeted and exploited, are unconscionable and/or abusive commercial acts or practices,” lawyers wrote in the legal filing.
They alleged that Discord’s acts and practices were “offensive to public policy.”
A Discord spokesperson said in a statement that the company disputes the allegations and that it is “proud of our continuous efforts and investments in features and tools that help make Discord safer.”
“Given our engagement with the Attorney General’s office, we are surprised by the announcement that New Jersey has filed an action against Discord today,” the spokesperson said.
One of the lawsuit’s allegations centers around Discord’s age-verification process, which the plaintiffs believe is flawed, writing that children under thirteen can easily lie about their age to bypass the app’s minimum age requirement.
The lawsuit also alleges that Discord misled parents to believe that its so-called Safe Direct Messaging feature “was designed to automatically scan and delete all private messages containing explicit media content.” The lawyers claim that Discord misrepresented the efficacy of that safety tool.
“By default, direct messages between ‘friends’ were not scanned at all,” the complaint stated. “But even when Safe Direct Messaging filters were enabled, children were still exposed to child sexual abuse material, videos depicting violence or terror, and other harmful content.”
The New Jersey attorney general is seeking unspecified civil penalties against Discord, according to the complaint.
The filing marks the latest lawsuit brought by various state attorneys general around the country against social media companies.
In 2023, a bipartisan coalition of over 40 state attorneys general sued Meta over allegations that the company knowingly implemented addictive features across apps like Facebook and Instagram that harm the mental well being of children and young adults.
The New Mexico attorney general sued Snap in Sep. 2024 over allegations that Snapchat’s design features have made it easy for predators to easily target children through sextortion schemes.
The following month, a bipartisan group of over a dozen state attorneys general filed lawsuits against TikTok over allegations that the app misleads consumers that its safe for children. In one particular lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia’s attorney general, lawyers allege that the ByteDance-owned app maintains a virtual currency that “substantially harms children” and a livestreaming feature that “exploits them financially.”
In January 2024, executives from Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord and X were grilled by lawmakers during a senate hearing over allegations that the companies failed to protect children on their respective social media platforms.