Source: Steven Ryan / Getty
Jay-Z continues to boss up in big fashion. His most recent move slots him as a major investor in Michael Rubin’s Fanatics brand.
As spotted on Revolt TV the Brooklyn, New York native just pulled yet another power pley. The owner of the Philadelphia 76ers is aiming to scale his sports merchandise business even further with a huge influx of cash. Jay-Z, Roc Nation and other entities are contributing a total of $325 million dollars. In return all parties involved will receive equity. Existing investors include Major League Baseball, SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund, and private-equity giant Silver Lake.
Rubin detailed that Fanatics wants to show up in different sales channels in the near future thus the recent fund raising. “We’ve realized we have this incredible opportunity but to really transition to a leading e-commerce company to building the leading digital sports platform,” he explained. “That means, as a sports fan, you go to Fanatics and get any sports product that’s important to you. He also denied the speculation that the recent moves are setting the stage for Fanatics to go public. “I think going public is an option for us that we talk about a lot, but it’s not something we’re focused on today,” said Rubin. “We’re focused on building a business. But I think we’re well-financed and have a lot of growth capital to continue to grow.”
This is not the first time Jay-Z and Michael Rubin have partnered on paper. They both sit on the board for REFORM Alliance, an organization committed to probation, parole, and sentencing reform in the United States through legislation and lobbying. You can see Rubin discuss Fanatics with CNBC below.
Photo: @michaelrubin
