TCG co-founder Jesse Jacobs, formerly of Goldman Sachs, will join the Funko board of directors as one of two ACON seats; the other new director will be named later. Peter Chernin and Iger will be advisors to the board.
ACON acquired the shares when it bought all of Funko in 2015 (see "Funko Sold"). Its share was later diluted by an initial public offering.
The Chernin Group identified four areas of potential growth for Funko:
- Expanding Funko’s IP and “Pop! aesthetic” into new content areas
- Adding adjacent physical and digital categories and brands, both organically and through acquisition
- Growing its direct-to-consumer business
- Expanding internationally
Funko also announced its Q1 earnings Thursday, which showed a 63% sales increase (including 70% growth in the U.S.) over the same quarter in 2021 to $232.2 million in sales for the quarter. Net income was up 31% to $14.5 million.
Over a third of Funko’s Q1 game sales were in its Battleworld system, its first collectible game; Battleworld 3 was launched in March (see "’Ultimate Armory’ for ‘Marvel Battleworld’"), Funko CEO Andrew Perlmutter revealed in the conference call. The company has "more collectible gaming platforms on the way," Perlmutter said, emphasizing that collectible games sell outside the normal seasons for strong game sales.