Eisner Strikes Deal to Sell Bazooka Gum Business

Former Walt Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner has struck a deal to sell Bazooka Candy Brands to global buyout firm Apax Partners in a deal that values the iconic gum maker at around $700 million including debt.

The deal brings an end to Eisner’s more than 15-year ownership of the gum and candy maker. Together with private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, Eisner, through his private investment company Tornante, struck a $385 million deal, which included the candy maker as well as the Topps collectibles business, for the company in 2007. Eisner started Tornante in 2005 after a career at Disney that spanned more than two decades. 

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Bazooka was up for sale.

Bazooka, based in New York City, is known for its namesake gum brand and sweets such as Push Pop lollipops, of which it sells more than 40 million a year. Other brands include Juicy Drop and Big Baby Pop lollipops, the gem-shaped Ring Pop and Mega Mouth, a candy spray.

Bazooka, originally known as Topps Chewing Gum, was founded in 1938 and developed its namesake bubble gum after World War II. In 1949, Topps first added photo cards as freebies inside its packs of gum, featuring baseball legends such as Babe Ruth. It released its first full set of baseball cards in 1951.

In 2021, Eisner and Madison Dearborn had planned to take Topps public through a blank-check merger that would have valued the company at more than $1 billion. But that fell through after Major League Baseball and its players’ union reached an exclusive agreement with a new company controlled by online-sports-merchandising retailer Fanatics. That had left Topps without its most prestigious American licensing partner.

The next year, Eisner and Madison Dearborn sold Topps’ trading-card business to Fanatics for $500 million and renamed the company.

Candy and other sweets face increasing competition from snacks such as nuts and granola bars as more consumers give priority to healthier eating. Still, some companies and investors remain bullish on the growth outlook for sugary treats.

In December, Perfetti Van Melle Group, the European maker of Mentos and Chupa Chups lollipops, struck a $1.35 billion deal to buy Mondelez International’s Trident, Dentyne and other gum products in the U.S., Canadian and European markets.

Apax has raised about $65 billion in assets, according to its website. It invests across Europe, Asia and North America, focusing on the internet and consumer sectors, as well as technology, services and healthcare.

Madison Dearborn is a Chicago-based buyout firm that has raised more than $28 billion since its inception in 1992, according to its website. 

Write to Ben Dummett at [email protected] and Laura Cooper at [email protected]