Upper Deck puts in a bid to buy Topps

[jmcclain19]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/25/business/25card.html

A Bid for Topps, the Baseball Card Company

By REUTERS
Published: May 25, 2007

PHILADELPHIA, May 24 (Reuters) — Topps, the baseball trading card company, said Thursday that it had received a $424 million takeover offer from the Upper Deck Company that exceeds its $385 million agreement to be bought by a private equity firm and an investment group led by Michael D. Eisner, the former chief of Walt Disney.

In March, Topps agreed to be acquired by Madison Dearborn Partners and Tornante, an investment firm run by Mr. Eisner, for $9.75 a share. Upper Deck, which publishes sports trading cards and other memorabilia, offered $10.75 a share.

Topps said that Tornante and Madison Dearborn had granted it permission to hold negotiations with Upper Deck. The Topps board has not made any determination whether Upper Deck’s overture would lead to a superior offer.

Upper Deck could not be immediately reached for comment.

[savafan]

Could that spell the end of Topps and lead to Upper Deck taking over the sports card market? It may be bittersweet...Topps has always been my favorite card brand, but reducing the saturation in the market would be a good thing, I think.

[dougdirt]

Could that spell the end of Topps and lead to Upper Deck taking over the sports card market? It may be bittersweet...Topps has always been my favorite card brand, but reducing the saturation in the market would be a good thing, I think.

MLB already is trying to cut down on the saturation with limiting the number of sets that each company can release each year (just started with the 2006 releases). Even if UD goes through and gets Topps they would be stupid to not embrace the Topps and Bowman name brands as they are both very popular to a large majority of collectors.

[dougdirt]

Also wanted to say that if it happens the hobby will have the worst customer service ever because UD is horrible as far as CS goes.

[KronoRed]

I always hated UD, too many sets and ugly ugly cards.

[Dom Heffner]

Anything after the sets in the mid to late 70s, and it's a game of stocks that you normally end up losing. The dealers are the ones who win, if at all, anymore.

Add to the equation ebay, and all of a sudden, that card in your hand doesn't look so rare.

[dougdirt]

Anything after the sets in the mid to late 70s, and it's a game of stocks that you normally end up losing. The dealers are the ones who win, if at all, anymore.

Add to the equation ebay, and all of a sudden, that card in your hand doesn't look so rare.

Its all about knowing the market. If you invest your money into rookie cards before they go nuts (which even now is difficult to do) you can keep your collection at a good price. Of course, I collect cards for fun because I enjoy them but if you are looking to keep value in your cards only put your money into rookie cards and autographs because those are the only cards that are going to hold their value over the long haul. They always have. Of course, if you are doing the card collecting thing for monetary purposes, you better know what you are doing in terms of investing your money in the right guys and knowing when to sell them and a lot of the time that is before they even get to the major leagues.