Michael Rubin: ‘Absolutely no rush’ to take Fanatics public

Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin is in “absolutely no rush” to take his sports apparel company, Fanatics, public via an IPO.

Rubin appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box Thursday morning to promote the upcoming Fanatics Fest in New York and was asked about the decision not to take the company public in 2022.

Rubin responded that Fanatics “never thought about going public” at the time.

“That’s just made up things that people put out there. We never spent one time with bankers going through the process. We want to build this as a great private company until it’s time to be a public company.”

However, Rubin acknowledged that the company, which is set to generate close to $12 billion in revenue next year, will go public “one day,” but that he’s satisfied with where things stand at the moment.

“The company’s making good profits today,” he said. “We have all the capital that we need. For me, there’s no rush to be a public company.”

CNBC’s Becky Quick questioned Rubin about the company potentially requiring cash for expansion.

“We’ve got close to $1B on the balance sheet in cash today,” said Rubin. “We generate a fair amount of cash this year. … Our two big investors today, they like us being private, they like us building the business. Eventually, I think we’ll be too big of a company not to be a public company.”

The second Fanatics Fest is taking place from June 20 to 22 at the Javits Center in New York. While Rubin admitted that last year’s event lost around $14-15 million, he still sees it as a great way for the company to connect with fans.

“It’s just great for our brand,” he said. “It’s a great way to connect with sports fans. If I really think about what my dream for is Fanatics, we want the brand to be beloved, not big.”