Former Disney (NYSE: DIS) chief Michael Eisner has canceled his Conversations with Michael Eisner show on CNBC to devote more time to his business ventures. Through his investment fund Tornante, Eisner has stakes in baseball card icon Topps, along with other start-up type ventures.

The ever prideful Eisner made it clear that he was canceling the show of his volition, but the statistics suggest that he wouldn't have lasted much longer. The show was averaging just 100,000 viewers per episode.

I don't think anyone will miss this one too much. My favorite episode -- for comedic reasons -- was the one where he interviewed former Home Depot (NYSE: HD) CEO Robert Nardelli and the two commiserated about how mean shareholders are to executives and how just because a stock does nothing for years while you're CEO, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't get a nine-figure severance package.

This one looks like a case of Mr. Eisner resigning to avoid being impeached -- just like he did at Disney.

Michael Eisner cancels his CNBC show originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bazooka Joe is the next Mickey Mouse? Is Michael Eisner serious? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Topps (TOPP) deal still not over? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Topps (TOPP) deal approved originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Topps (TOPP) sale vote in the cards today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• In March, Topps gets an offer to be acquired for $9.75 a share from an investment group led by Michael Eisner's Tornante Co. and Madison Dearborn Partners.
• Topps agrees to the offer.
• In May, Upper Deck steps to the plate with a $10.75 a share counter offer.
• Yesterday, Upper Deck withdraws its offer based on "flawed" negotiations from Topps.
• Topps files with the SEC today, saying Upper Deck misled the company with its offer.

It's 1, 2, 3 strikes you're out for Topps (TOPP) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If anyone thinks that strong corporate governance is alive and well in America (The tooth fairy isn't real), take a look at the behavior of Topps (NYSE: TOPP) management with regard to the ongoing buyout debate.

Tornante Co. and Madison Dearborn Partners LLC agreed to a deal to acquire the trading card/candy company for $9.75 per share, and the deal was almost universally blasted as being inadequate. Then Upper Deck, Topps' only major competitor in the baseball card space, came in and offered $10.75. Topps insisted that the offer was better for some complex reason, but most of us suspect the reason had a lot to do with the fact that Tornante and MDP had pledged to keep the company's current incompetent management team in place. Cynical observers, such as myself, wondered why $10.75 is a better deal than $9.75. Isn't the idea to sell the stock for the most money? Both proxy advisory firms have advised shareholders to vote against the MDP deal.

After what seemed like daily back-and-forth accusations, Upper Deck has finally given up on Topps like the Kansas City Royals should give up on baseball. It seems that the opposition of Topps management to the deal just made it too difficult to go forward with, and shareholders will pay the price. The stock closed on Tuesday over $10 per share, and now appears destined to be sold for $9.75.After dinner tonight, Upper Deck issued a terse press release and, just for fun, a scathing letter letting everyone know why it had terminated its offer:

...roadblocks have been created by Topps as part of a deliberate effort to discredit UD (both publicly and internally with the Topps employees upon whom UD would need to rely post-closing of this acquisition), defeat UD's offer, and justify entrenched management's continued shameless support of the less favorable Tornante/Madison Dearborn transaction. It is now abundantly clear that Topps will attempt to impede any and all reasonable efforts to consummate the UD merger, which thus cannot possibly be consummated under the current circumstances...

Herb Greenberg: Is it too early to nominate the entire team over at Topps for worst CEO of the year? Shares are down more than 7% today.

Upper Deck throws in the towel at Topps (TOPP) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Upper Deck has advised Topps (NASDAQ: TOPP) that the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 has expired with no request for additional information, satisfying one of the conditions of Upper Deck's tender offer for the company.

According to a press release put out by Topps:

Topps noted that it continues to negotiate with Upper Deck to see if a consensual transaction can be reached. Topps cautions, however, that there can be no assurance that a transaction will be reached with Upper Deck. The Topps Board has not withdrawn or amended its recommendation with respect to the merger agreement with The Tornante Company and Madison Dearborn Partners.

Topps is recommending that its shareholders accept the $9.75 bid from Tornante and Madison Dearborn when a $10.75 offer is on the table and the stock is currently trading at $10.14. I suppose that next we will hear that Topps is advising its shareholders to hand in their $10 bills for a five and four ones.

As I've written before on BloggingStocks, the management and board at Topps is looking more and more like a complete disgrace to corporate governance. The current management team has a deal in place allowing them to keep their jobs if Madison Dearborn and Tornante acquire the company, although most shareholders would agree that their leadership has been pathetic.

For more of my coverage of the battle for Topps, check out:

Will Eisner and Co. Collect Topps?

Upper Deck Gets Hostile in Pursuit of Topps

Will Topps (TOPP) balk at Upper Deck's buyout? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The saga of the Topps (NASDAQ: TOPP) buyout has dragged on far longer than anyone could have predicted. When the trading card company agreed to be acquired by Madison Dearborn Partners and Michael Eisner's The Tornante Company for $9.75 per share, BloggingStocks' Tom Taulli wrote that Topps had hit a single. He wasn't the only one who was less than enthused about the buyout. Several dissident Topps directors voted against the deal, and Topps responded by barring them from the go-shop process. Then Upper Deck made an offer of $10.75, and Topps rejected it, saying that Upper Deck didn't have financing and that the proposal had antitrust concerns. Upper Deck responded with a hostile tender offer.

Given the size of the buyout -- less than $420 million -- the deal has generated a lot of buzz. Perhaps it's that so many of us covering the deal have nostalgic memories of collecting our baseball heroes. But the level of rhetoric and the amount of back and forth has also made the deal interesting.

It's hard to know exactly how this will end -- will Eisner & co. raise their bid? The matter has ended up in court with a judge chastising Eisner and Topps with good reason -- the company forgot to tell shareholders that Eisner had agreed to keep the much-maligned current management team in place after the buyout.

BusinessWeek's Ronald Glover takes an interesting look at Michael Eisner's role in this whole mess, referring to him as the "drive-by victim of what's fast becoming a shareholder circus".

At this point, I would say that Upper Deck looks like the favorite to go home with Topps. The shares are trading at $10.59, indicating that shareholders are confident it won't go for the original $9.75 offer. The small spread between the current price and Upper Deck's offer indicates that investors believe an even higher offer could emerge.

The BusinessWeek piece cites sources who say that Eisner is unlikely to raise his offer, but it might be a mistake to count him out just yet.

As for his show on CNBC, I think you probably can count that one out. He's no Larry King, although King was recently a guest on the show.

Will Eisner & Co. collect Topps? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As the New York Times Dealbook pointed out yesterday, references to Paris Hilton and jokes at her expense have become all too widespread of late. For that reason, this post will endeavor to contain only a modest number of Paris Hilton jokes.

Bill Gross, the once-proud bond guru at PIMCO, mentioned Paris Hilton three times in his July Investment Outlook:

Whew, that was a close one! Ugly for a few days I guess, but it could have been much worse! No, I refer not to Paris Hilton upon her initial release from the LA County pokey after serving three days of hard time, but to the Bear Stearns/subprime crisis.

Continue reading Paris Hilton invoked in Topps buyout feud? Bill Gross talks about Paris too?

Paris Hilton invoked in Topps buyout feud? Bill Gross talks about Paris too? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When BloggingStocks's Tom Taulli wrote that Topps (NASDAQ: TOPP) had hit a single with it's agreement to be acquired by Madison Dearborn Partners and The Tornante Company, he realized a problem with the proposed buyout that has come to irritate many of the company's largest shareholders. The $9.75 per share offer wasn't much of a premium to the current share price, and left the company's long-term shareholders with a return on investment that was mediocre at best.

Then a grey knight arrived on the scene. Competitor Upper Deck came forward with an offer of $10.75 per share, but Topps rejected the offer, saying that Upper Deck had not demonstrated adequate financing and had failed to offer an adequate break-up fee. Topps also cited anti-trust concerns given that Topps and Upper Deck are the two biggest players in the trading card industry.

Having been spurned by Topps's management, Upper Deck is turning up the heat with a tender offer for all of the company's shares at $10.75 each, a premium of 10.25% to the $9.75 that Topps had previously agreed to be acquired at.

There's sure to be a lot more drama to come and the history of Topps had plenty of drama before this even started. Check out this Wikipedia entry for a nice overview of the company's history.

Upper Deck gets hostile in pursuit of Topps originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last week, Topps Co. (NASDAQ: TOPPS) agreed to be bought out by Torante, former Disney chief Michael Eisner's private equity firm. The company agreed to be acquired for $9.75 cents per share, but hit $10 in trading today, indicating that many believe that the company may eventually fetch a higher price.

Here's where it gets interesting: Topps directors, including Timothy Brog and Arnaud Ajdler, voted against the deal, and Topps management has responded in an unusual way. The deal included a "go-shop" provision, which means that the company can solicit offers from other companies for a period of time. Topps has taken the unusual step of banning those two directors, plus one other, from any involvement in the go-shop process. The Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal raised and an eyebrow, and I share their sentiments:

The WSJ writer comments, "Why did the board agree to the deal in the first place if 30% of its membership thought it undervalues the company (at $9.75 a share, the bid is below the stock's 52-week high of $10 reached last month)? Why are the three ill-suited to manage the "go-shop" process for a new suitor? Seems to us that people who don't like the deal on the table have the most incentive to ferret out a better one."

Continue reading Rhetoric rises in battle for Topps

Rhetoric rises in battle for Topps originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You might not have traded the stock, but you certainly traded its products. Topps Co. (NASDAQ: TOPP), maker of baseball cards and Bazooka bubble gum, announced on March 6 that it has agreed to be acquired for $385.4 million by the Tornante Company, headed by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Private equity investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners will also join in the purchase if the deal is approved by Topps' shareholders.

And that's when the bubble burst. The deal calls for Topps shareholders to receive $9.75 per share in cash. The problem is that the stock is currently trading above that amount. Topps stock closed at $9.89 on March 8, down $.05. The stock has generally been trading right around $10 per share since the start of 2007. So why agree to sell at below market rate? That is precisely the question asked by Arnaud Ajdler, one of Topps' own board members. Investment firm owns 6.6% of Topps' shares. It, too, is opposing the bid, calling the offer an "undervaluation." Ajdler has also asked the bid to be rejected because it did not follow proper procedures.

Topps board of directors, minus Mr. Ajdler, is in favor of the deal and is recommending shareholders accept the offer. The deal is not dependent on securing any funding. Eisner's Tornante Company would like to have the deal close sometime during 3Q 2007. Topps has a 40 day window during which it intends to solicit additional offers. Perhaps Mr. Ajdler can put together a better offer for shareholders.

Bazooka's bubble bursts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 09 Mar 2007 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Today, the legendary baseball card company, Topps Co. Inc. (NYSE: TOPP), agreed to sell out for $9.75 per share or $385.4 million. The buyers include Madison Dearborn Partners and Michael Eisner's The Tornante Company.

Topps got its start in 1938. At first, the company sold chewing gum (such as Bazooka). After World War II, the company moved into other segments, such as trading cards.

However, over the past few years, the company's stock price has gone nowhere. As a result, there has been interest from a variety of activist hedge funds.

Despite the problems, Topps still has a stable of great brands and a strong distribution network. Perhaps Eisner can leverage this with his extensive entertainment contacts. He has also been active in dot-com investments - which could benefit Topps.

The buyout deal has a 40-day go-shop provision, which allows Topps to seek other buyers. But it looks like the valuation is fair.

Although, with the stock price trading at $9.95, investors are betting there may be a rival bid.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Topps hits a single originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Mar 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Markets closed for New Year's Day holiday
• PDUFA date for Amylin Pharmaceutical's (NASDAQ: AMLN) Byetta

• Markets closed in observance of President Ford's death

• Earnings conference calls for AngioDynamics (NASDAQ: ANGO), Landec Corporation (NASDAQ: LNDC) and the Topps Company (NASDAQ: TOPP)
• Sales conference call for American Eagle Outfitters (NASDAQ: AEOS)

• Earnings conference calls for Arrow International (NASDAQ: ARRO), Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) and Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ: SONC)
• Sales conference calls for Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), AnnTaylor Stores (NYSE: ANN) and bebe stores (NASDAQ: BEBE)

• Shareholder meeting for Serono S.A. (NYSE: SRA)

Market highlights for next week originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 14:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.