Fanatics Sports Merch Company Triples Valuation Year Over Year

Sports Merchandise

With its latest round of funding, sports merchandise company Fanatics Inc. has bolstered its valuation to $18 billion, according to a Tuesday (Aug. 10) report in The Wall Street Journal.

The retailer of licensed sportswear, sports equipment and memorabilia netted $325 million in a recent funding round, with new investments from musician and business mogul Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and his 13-year-old entertainment company, Roc Nation LLC. Current investors, including Major League Baseball, SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund and private equity firm Silver Lake also contributed to the funding round.

As PYMNTS reported previously, Fanatics more than doubled its valuation from $6.2 billion in August 2020 to $12.8 billion in March following a $320 million funding round. Major League Baseball and the National Football League continue to be large investors in Fanatics, with each contributing $150 million in 2017 and another $100 million in 2020.

Read more: Fanatics Scores $12.8B Valuation With $320M Funding Round

Fanatics operates more than 300 online and brick-and-mortar stores, serving more than 100 million sports enthusiasts worldwide, according to its website.

Sales for Fanatics’ global eCommerce operations have grown 30 percent compared to 2020. The company had said it expects to reach $3 billion in annual sales for 2021. Continued growth was the catalyst for Fanatics’ acquisition of WinCraft, a Minnesota-based creator of sports-themed merchandise for the home, car or office. The sports retailer has said it intends to take advantage of other business opportunities, as well as mergers and acquisitions.

The latest funding round, according to The Wall Street Journal, will help Fanatics further its plan to transition into a multi-faceted platform featuring various sports-related businesses, including ticketing, media and sports gambling. Fanatics will face competition in the digital gambling arena: As PYMNTS reported this week, DraftKings has announced an intent to purchase Golden Nugget Online Gaming, which will enable DraftKings to leverage Golden Nugget’s database of more than five million customers.

Related news: Digital Sports Betting Co DraftKings To Buy Golden Nugget Online Gaming In Deal Worth $1.56B


CFTC Appoints Whistleblower Office Director Brian Young to Lead Enforcement

CFTC

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has named the former director of its Whistleblower Office, Brian Young, as its director of enforcement.

The appointment was announced Friday (Feb. 14) by CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham, according to a CFTC press release. Young had been serving in an acting capacity since Jan. 22.

“He is a fearless leader that will build an even more impressive enforcement program that will stay true to the CFTC’s mission to protect the American public from fraudsters and scammers,” Pham said in the release. “I am confident that under Brian’s leadership, the CFTC will expand and scale our resources to help more victims than ever before and ensure the integrity of our markets in the name of justice.”

Young joined the CFTC as director of its Whistleblower Office in 2024, according to the release. During his first year in that role, Young oversaw a team that achieved an all-time high number of annual dispositions of whistleblower award applications.

Prior to joining the agency, Young was with the Department of Justice for nearly 20 years, most recently as acting director of litigation for the Antitrust Division, the release said.

Before that, Young served in various roles in the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division, including chief of the Fraud Section’s Litigation Unit, per the release.

While at the Department of Justice, he successfully tried criminal fraud and manipulation cases in the CFTC’s markets, according to the release.

“I want to thank Acting Chairman Pham for her confidence in me and for her commitment to continuing the CFTC’s aggressive efforts to protect our global commodity markets from fraud, manipulation and other abusive practices,” Young said in the release.

The White House said in a Wednesday press release that it sent to the Senate nominations for Brian Quintenz to be chairman of the CFTC and a commissioner of the CFTC for a term expiring April 13, 2029.

Quintenz is a former commissioner of the CFTC and now works for the cryptocurrency unit at venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, PYMNTS reported Wednesday (Feb. 12).

The commission is expected to gain new powers over the cryptocurrency sector.