US sports retailer Fanatics and a group of celebrities take over sports goods retailer Mitchell & Ness.
Fanatics hails the brand, which specializes in apparel for US sports, in a Linkedin post: “An exciting day bringing iconic sports lifestyle brand Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co. to the Fanatics Welcome family!” The acquisition was valued at $250 million, reports The New York Times, citing two people familiar with the matter.
75 percent of the shares go to Fanatics and the remaining 25 percent to several celebrities. Shareholders are said to include rappers Jay-Z and Meek Mill, and the D’Amelio family, known through Tiktok. Mitchell & Ness previously belonged to the US investment company Juggernaut Capital Partners, which took over the brand in 2016 from the German sports goods manufacturer Adidas.
Frank Mitchell and Charles Ness founded Mitchell & Ness in Philadelphia in 1904. Initially, the focus was on golf and tennis clubs as well as uniforms for local baseball and American football teams. Today, the brand offers authentic vintage jerseys and apparel collections for the US MLB, NFL, NBA, NCAA and MLS leagues.