Endeavor Takes Another Step Into Sports Collectibles

Endeavor agreed to a deal on Wednesday with eBay, teaming up with the e-commerce giant to sell sports memorabilia around a series of live events.

The move presents a unique opportunity for Endeavor as it taps into a trading card market that saw $2 billion worth of merchandise sold on eBay in the first half of the year in North America alone.

• Last week, Endeavor joined Silver Lake and Insight Partners in a $350 million Series A funding round for Fanatics Trading Cards, valuing the business at $10.4 billion.
• eBay hosted transactions for more than 4 million cards in 2020, which its “State of Trading Cards” report revealed was a 142% increase in domestic sales compared to a year prior.
• Endeavor and eBay are scheduled to collaborate in January at Mint Collective, an event in Las Vegas that brings sports collectible companies and investors together.

Endeavor raised $511 million in its April IPO. A private placement brought the total raised to $1.8 billion and made New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and AC Milan owner Paul Singer stakeholders in the business.

The company agreed to purchase London-based OpenBet for $1.2 billion last week. It generated $1.1 billion in revenue in Q2 2021 — a $650 million increase year-over-year.