A group of new investors led by The Chernin Group will be acquiring a 25% stake of shares in Funko (FNKO). Other investors in this deal include former Disney CEO Robert Iger and eBay Inc. As part of the deal, eBay will become the preferred secondary market for Funko. The news of this sent shares of Funko soaring last week by around 30%. Another gaming company that The Chernin Group has invested in is Exploding Kittens, makers of Exploding Kittens, Throw Throw Burrito, and Bears vs Babies.
Another gaming item of interest from Funko’s earnings call was that they are going to be focusing even more on the CCG space. Funko’s Battle World is a Marvel-licensed game that Andrew reviewed here.
“Turning to our Toys & Games brands, we continue to disrupt in both these spaces with thoughtful and compelling product development. Our collectible gaming business represented over a third of our Q1 gaming revenue, highlighting our ability to maintain growth outside of the traditionally seasonal game business. We recently launched Battle World Series 3 with more collectible gaming platforms on the way, designed to introduce new fans to this exciting intersection of collecting and gaming, while Q1 is typically a quieter quarter for new game launches, we released new iterations, our most popular title including Haunted Mansion, Magic Kingdom edition, and multiple editions of our Something Wild card games. We also developed a first legacy game further cementing our leadership position on the world’s top game designers.”
