Steve of the Sports Card File has just confirmed that Panini has now officially bought Donruss-Playoff.
A couple of questions immediately come to mind:
How will this affect the pending litigation between MLB Properties and Donruss?
Does this mean that Panini will start the process of getting a license to produce baseball cards?
The story continues to say that Donruss has been for sale for at least a year, and that both Topps and UD, along with TCG/4Kids, were in the running to buy out the company. And once again, UD President Richard McWilliams tried to ruin the pending transaction by trying to get Anne Powell, now former owner of Donruss, to sign papers allowing UD to buy them out, even after Panini had signed a letter of intent. Go figure.
So congratulations to all parties. It seems that this works well for everyone involved, and that many people will be able to keep their jobs.
This should make things more interesting when the four-year Topps/UD and MLB Properties contract expires.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
1 comment:
The technical effect on the Topps litigation is probably dependent upon how that was handled in the acquisition documents, whether Pannini agreed to take on Donruss' liabilities. Realistically, Topps may either decide to back off the litigation some or get more agressive as a pre-emptive strike on Pannini moving in on its turf.
I think Pannini is going to use its financial stability (relative to where Donruss had been) combined with the Donruss name/tradition in the baseball card market to make a run at a license.
I do hope, however, that we don't see Donruss Heritage baseball, featuring the 1988 set.
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