CGC/CCG to be sold... 8 8

[Cat]

4 minutes ago, Wolverinex said:

Nice VC is an oxymoron

 

Yeah, I was being sarcastic. I know what they're like. 

[WolverineX]

2 minutes ago, Funnybooks said:

I wonder if we will still be able to threadkrap! 😭

No. No memes either.  Not enough revenue. 

[MGsimba77]

19 minutes ago, Qalyar said:

We're just going to have to wait and see for a lot of this. Blackstone does not treat all its acquisitions the same way. Honestly, I don't expect this to be a harbinger of doom. CCG/CGC is worth money because of its reputation as an A-tier authentication and grading company. A heavy-handed approach from Blackstone that compromises that reputation would lose them asset value, and Blackstone hates losing asset value. Hating on Blackstone (and the investment management sector in general) is often deserved, but Blackstone also buys a lot of profitable niche-sector businesses which is mostly leaves alone to do their thing, largely just to pad their assets under management metric. So I don't expect any really significant negative impacts in the short-term. And let's be honest, CCG clearly could use additional resources; a lot of the QA problems we've been seeing lately actually can be fixed by throwing money at the problem.

Several of those other investors have at least some background in the sports collectibles industry (especially Michael Rubin, not to be confused with the former Pentagon advisor of the same name). So this doesn't look immediately like vulture capitalism.

Now... if we see evidence of cost-cutting for its own sake, or suspicious standards changes, or especially asset stripping (like selling off one or more of the satellite grading divisions), then it's time to run for the exits.

Yeah what sense would it make for them to suddenly become expert micromanagers in what they're not familiar with? The problem is CGC is not able to handle the crush of growth coming from the collectibles market. They can't keep up with their demand!

What impact could this have on TATs and hiring in general? If they can just help in that regard and leave everything else alone it's a win!

[Cat]

3 minutes ago, Wolverinex said:

Agreed but it's better then nothing if we are shut down since we provide no profit...

Yeah. I think donations from members would get us a website and servers for at least a few years, after that you've got to consider that interest might wane, though with this strong community you'd hope not. As for ads I'm sure our site would do just fine plastered with ads for Cal. 

In the meantime while all that's getting done, set up a temp subReddit/Discord or whatever, just to keep things flowing. Doesn't sound that bad. 

[Funnybooks]

1 minute ago, Wolverinex said:

No. No memes either.  Not enough revenue. 

Shut the front door up...

I'm headed over to Yahoo to create a forum I think I'll name....Yahoo Groups....where like minded individuals could gather to exchange thoughts and images and maybe even buy, sell or trade comic books. If the idea takes off, I may begin to sell ad space and eventually package the group for sale...waitaminute….

[toro]

[WolverineX]

2 minutes ago, Mecha_Fantastic said:

Yeah. I think donations from members would get us a website and servers for at least a few years, after that you've got to consider that interest might wane, though with this strong community you'd hope not. As for ads I'm sure our site would do just fine plastered with ads for Cal. 

In the meantime while all that's getting done, set up a temp subReddit/Discord or whatever, just to keep things flowing. Doesn't sound that bad. 

Agreed.  Plus I'll be able to show off my Voldemort slabs ....

[StarV100]

Stop panicking and wait to see how this plays out.

Blackstone is NOT a short-term so-called "Venture Capital" company. I know most of you are thinking their mission is to strip the value of their short-term acquisitions and then sell the remaining husk off for a quick profit. That is NOT Blackstone. They are primarily investors for growth. I assume CCG was acquired by their Private Equity division. I'm familiar with many of the companies they have acquired big stakes in. They're still going strong.

I expect they will help to grow the business by making decent investments. You might even find that the TAT's will be significantly reduced. Wouldn't that be a good thing?

The fact is -- no-one actually knows where this is going. Forget about the doom and gloom and keep an open mind.

[Larryw7]

[csaag]

5 minutes ago, StarV100 said:

Stop panicking and wait to see how this plays out.

 

Where's the fun in that?

[HotKey]

Will they look at the receiving department and temporarily halt submissions?

[ADAMANTIUM]

2 minutes ago, HotKey said:

Will they look at the receiving department and temporarily halt submissions?

with current in-house signings being "received"

that is highly doubtful, when there is a deadline

Edited July 1, 2021 by ADAMANTIUM

[Funnybooks]

1 minute ago, HotKey said:

Will they look at the receiving department and temporarily halt submissions?

Blackstone is all about the thrusting and not about the receiving 

[707comics]

38 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

I work for a firm that was bought by a VC. All they want to do is make money. If you're making them their money, they do not care about you. 

And I think that potentially there-in lies the problem? As customers / employees we need them to care about us ...... some folks more than others albeit, but I think many of us have seen a companies start to-do things that don't align with previous business model(s) after an acquisition. Only time will tell in this case

[BabyAteMyDingo]

For my two cents:

Don't ever forget WE are the market. They will only be as successful as we allow them to be. I love my books before money, mates. Remind them WE are the foundation. We don't work for THEM. THEY work for US. If submissions dry up, they will be holding the bag.

And me Pappa told me "NEVER put all the eggs in one basket."

[mattn792]

53 minutes ago, Qalyar said:

We're just going to have to wait and see for a lot of this. Blackstone does not treat all its acquisitions the same way. Honestly, I don't expect this to be a harbinger of doom. CCG/CGC is worth money because of its reputation as an A-tier authentication and grading company. A heavy-handed approach from Blackstone that compromises that reputation would lose them asset value, and Blackstone hates losing asset value. Hating on Blackstone (and the investment management sector in general) is often deserved, but Blackstone also buys a lot of profitable niche-sector businesses which is mostly leaves alone to do their thing, largely just to pad their assets under management metric. So I don't expect any really significant negative impacts in the short-term. And let's be honest, CCG clearly could use additional resources; a lot of the QA problems we've been seeing lately actually can be fixed by throwing money at the problem.

Several of those other investors have at least some background in the sports collectibles industry (especially Michael Rubin, not to be confused with the former Pentagon advisor of the same name). So this doesn't look immediately like vulture capitalism.

Now... if we see evidence of cost-cutting for its own sake, or suspicious standards changes, or especially asset stripping (like selling off one or more of the satellite grading divisions), then it's time to run for the exits.

 

46 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

The amount of oh my god panic in this thread is laughable. Blackstone wants to make money. That's all they want to do. Nothing else. The chance of the end user (us) being affected by this at all is near zero as CGC is an ATM with a near monopoly in the space.

Prices might go up. That's probably about it.

This kind of level headed logic has no place here.

CCG and its components are clearly doomed based solely on one press release.

[mattn792]

14 minutes ago, StarV100 said:

Stop panicking and wait to see how this plays out.

Blackstone is NOT a short-term so-called "Venture Capital" company. I know most of you are thinking their mission is to strip the value of their short-term acquisitions and then sell the remaining husk off for a quick profit. That is NOT Blackstone. They are primarily investors for growth. I assume CCG was acquired by their Private Equity division. I'm familiar with many of the companies they have acquired big stakes in. They're still going strong.

I expect they will help to grow the business by making decent investments. You might even find that the TAT's will be significantly reduced. Wouldn't that be a good thing?

The fact is -- no-one actually knows where this is going. Forget about the doom and gloom and keep an open mind.

Stop talking sense, these are the CGC boards.  Only mass hysteria is allowed when it comes to change like this.

[Larryw7]

5 minutes ago, Funnybooks said:

Blackstone is all about the thrusting and not about the receiving 

[707comics]

Jumping the shark is always hard for long time fans

[Qalyar]

7 minutes ago, mattn792 said:

 

This kind of level headed logic has no place here.

CCG and its components are clearly doomed based solely on one press release.

My apologies. At a minimum, I'll try to remember to include an appropriate number of panicked spinning emoji in future.