Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner Sells Bazooka Gum For $700 Million

Former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner has agreed to sell Bazooka Candy Brands to global buyout firm Apax Partners.

The deal values the iconic gum company at around $700 million, including debt.

Photo: Bazooka Candy Brands

Eisner’s Bubble Gum Days Are Over

The sale marks the end of Eisner’s more than 15-year ownership of the gum and candy maker. He initially bought the company in 2007, along with private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, for $385 million through his Tornate private investment company. Eisner launched Tornate in 2005,  after his two decade run at Disney.

Bazooka was founded in 1938, and originally known as Topps Chewing Gum. Topps would eventually add baseball cards as freebies inside their packs of gum, before diving headfirst into the trading card sphere in 1951.

Photo: Bazooka Candy Brands

Eisner and Madison Dearborn, who together previously owned Topps, had planned to take the company public in 2021 through a blank-check merger that would have valued the company at more than $1 billion.

The former Disney CEO’s plan fell through, however, when Major League Baseball and its players’ union reached an exclusive agreement with Fanatics.

Photo; Topps

Without the MLB as a licensing partner, Eisner and Madison Dearborn pivoted and sold Topps’ trading-card business to Fanatics for $500.

What’s Next For the Former Disney CEO

Outside of his work with Topps, Eisner has been busy with a myriad of other projects. His Tornate Company funded the critically acclaimed Netflix series BoJack Horseman and the Cartoon Network series Tuca & Bertie.

Eisner also owns Portsmouth F.C. an English football club currently in League One.

Photo: Disney

While he has largely stayed clear of much of the controversy surrounding The Walt Disney Company in recent years, Eisner did publicly support the company’s decision to bring Bob Iger back as CEO last November.

Now, for the first time in 15 years, however,  Eisner finds himself divested of Topps. What he will do next, remains to be seen.

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