Fanatics, Jacksonville, Fla., has paid $17 million to acquire Kitbag, which sells licensed team apparel online for international soccer clubs, including Manchester United, Arsenal and Real Madrid among others, according to Re/code.
The goals of the deal are to add more soccer team apparel at Fanatics.com, which boasts a licensing deal with Major League Soccer, and to grow the relatively small and unprofitable Kitbag.
“If we could find an opportunity to globalize in e-commerce and dramatically increase our scale in soccer, those were two of our highest priorities,” says Fanatics CEO Doug Mack. “We found one company addressing both opportunities.”
Fanatics is currently valued at more than $3 billion, and Mack says the company does more than $1 billion in annual sales.
For more information, visit fanatics.com. — J.B.