WSJ: Fanatics Pried Baseball Cards From Topps. Now Fanatics Is Buying Topps

When news broke last summer that Fanatics Inc. was poised to upend the trading-card industry, longtime baseball fans wondered what it meant for Topps Co. The iconic company had been synonymous with baseball cards for more than 70 years, a run that seemed destined to end when Fanatics lured away Topps’ key licensees.

But Topps baseball cards will live on—as a part of Fanatics.  The sports-merchandise retailer has struck a deal to purchase Topps’ trading-card business from Michael Eisner’s Tornante Co. LLC and private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners., enabling Fanatics to keep the Topps brand alive. The purchase price was $500 million, people familiar with the matter said..