Funko Sales Nearly as Much as Entire Comics Business

Licensed collectibles company Funko is making changes to position itself for a possible initial public offering or sale, CEO Brian Mariotti told the Seattle Times . While he stressed that the company was open to multiple paths, two were mentioned; the company hopes to be ready for an initial public offering in 2017, or for sale to a "strategic partner."Funko’s sales have been booming, reflecting new non-Pop! lines and a large increase in the number of outlets for its products. With Walmart, Target, GameStop, and Hot Topic, as well as comic and game stores, there are likely well over 10,000 doors for the company’s products. Funko also operates a subscription box program with 200,000 subscribers.Funko expected its sales to come in at around $425 million for 2016, up from $274 million in 2015, $107 in 2014, and $40 million in 2013, with Mariotti describing it as “highly profitable,” according to the report. The size of the sales growth at the company (10X in three years) is staggering, as is the revenue number for last year. Given that much of those sales is at wholesale discount, the retail sales represented by Funko are approaching those of the entire comics and graphic novel business in the U.S. and Canada ($1.03 billion in 2015, see " Comic and Graphic Novel Sales Top $1 Billion ").Recent changes at Funko include new management from Payless Shoe Source, Microsoft, and Inrix; and new board members with backgrounds at Nike and McDonald’s.Funko is majority owned by investment fund ACON (see " Funko Sold "), with minority shares for former owner Fundamental Capital and management.