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Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards
Fanatics ownership group also owns CGC so all this speculation about what grading company they're going to buy is too late. Oh and do you really think it's coincidence that PWCC got into bed with CGC???
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Maybe..............and maybe not. As Adam/Exhibitman pointed out, Michael Rubin is only a minority owner in the holding company that owns CSG. In hindsight, most likely his common ownership helped open doors for Fanatics in talking to PWCC about their acquisition, as you surmised, since PWCC and CSG were already partnered in doing some business activities together.
But as only a minority owner in CSG's parent company, his reach and motives will not necessarily prevail over those of CGC's other, majority owners. One of the mergers/acquisitions I was directly involved in a few years back saw my two clients, and the company they owned, taken over by a large, New York investment group. My guys would continue to run the company, and also retained a 20% minority ownership interest as well. After the deal was completed, there were some final clean-up calculations of escrowed monies, and my two guys ended up getting screwed out of over $1Million because of an unexpected change in the way some calculations that had been done by the Big Four accounting firm involved in the deal, and originally hired by the New York group, were suddenly changed. In a conference call meeting we initiated with the acquiring group to protest, I was simply told by one of the New York firm's reps that they were required to look out for their owners/partners in the deal. When I asserted that my two clients were also owners/partners in the deal, the rep just repeated exactly what he had originally said, and the meeting was effectively ended. And since the paperwork closing the deal had already been signed, my guys were effectively screwed. Being a minority owner doesn't always give you anything or any say so. Having Rubin's common ownership doesn't mean CSG's majority owners would automatically go along with and agree to do anything that Fanatics might want to do.
Collectors care for collecting and their collections. Hobby industry businesses don't always really care about collectors and how they collect, just how best to make the most money as possible off those collectors. And that is why such discussions as in this thread are often necessary, to remind those in the hobby community how these businesses pretty much running and controlling the hobby industry these days actually think and operate. The more you understand how and why businesses may be thinking and doing what they're doing, the better a collecting can maybe deal with and react to them. And the same goes for you as well Scott, as a small, private business owner operating in the hobby industry hierarchy as well. The things these big businesses/players are doing can definitely have an impact, both positive and negative, on your business going forward as well. We just don't know exactly where they're going yet, and what they're going to end up doing and how it will end up affecting everyone else involved. So, talking and having discussions about it isn't at all bad, and actually is pretty much necessary for people that want to start thinking about and figure out what to do going forward.