17 August 2021
Data: CrunchBase; Chart: Connor Rothschild/Axios
Fanatics has nearly tripled in value over the last year. Now, the e-commerce giant wants to expand into new businesses like sports betting, ticketing and media.
Driving the news: Fanatics closed a $325 million funding round last week that values the company at $18 billion, making it the world's 12th-most valuable private company, per CB Insights.
The top 12 include:
- Bytedance ($140B)
- Stripe ($95B)
- SpaceX ($74B)
- Klarna ($45.6B)
- Instacart ($39B)
- Revolut ($33B)
- Nubank ($30B)
- Epic Games ($28.7B)
- Databricks ($28B)
- Rivian ($27.6B)
- FTX ($18B)
- Fanatics ($18B)
How it works: Founded in 1995, Fanatics achieved "decacorn" status ($10+ billion valuation) by controlling the sports apparel supply chain. Jersey sales go through them, period. And they don't just sell clothes — they make them, too.
- As the official retailer of licensed merchandise for many U.S. sports leagues and universities, Fanatics generates ~80% of its revenue from sales on Fanatics.com and the 300+ team and league sites it operates, per WSJ (subscription).
- Now, it will expand far beyond that, creating new products to further monetize its database of 83 million sports fans. After all, the people buying jerseys are the same people buying tickets and placing bets.
- In June, Fanatics formed an NFT company called Candy Digital and hired former FanDuel CEO Matt King to run its betting operations. Now, it's launching Fanatics Sportsbook.
The bottom line: Fanatics will eventually go public. Until then, there appears to be one goal as a private company: Try to take over the world.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.