Fantex Holdings, Inc. was a U.S.-based financial services and brand development company headquartered in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

which provides an investment service allowing investors to trade securities tied to the cash flows of professional athletes and their brand contracts with Fantex. Since their first

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

of shares linked to future earnings of

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

tight end

Vernon Davis Vernon Davis (born January 31, 1984) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at Maryland, and was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers sixth overall in the 2006 NFL Draft. In 2009, Davis co-led the NFL in touchdown rec ...

in October 2013, Fantex has continued to initiate brand contracts and list more athletes on their exchange. The Fantex asset class has been compared to investments similar to the

celebrity bond A celebrity bond is commercial debt security issued by a holder of fame-based intellectual property rights to receive money upfront from investors on behalf of the bond issuer and their celebrity clients in exchange for assigning investors the rig ...

s offered by professional entertainers, including the 1997 offering by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

. Fantex is a holding company with two primary businesses: # Fantex, Inc. – a securities issuer that files registration statements with the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

. # Fantex Brokerage Services, LLC – an online brokerage firm and

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associati ...

(FINRA) member.

History

Fantex was founded in 2012 by David Beirne, former general partner of

Benchmark Capital Benchmark is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco that provides seed money to startups. History The firm's most successful investment was a 1997 investment of $6.7 million in eBay for 22.1% of the company. In 2011, it invested $12 mill ...

, Buck French, and Dave Mullin. The company's board of directors include

John Elway John Albert Elway Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is an American professional football executive and former quarterback who is the president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Elway played college f ...

(member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and GM of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

), Josh Levine (former CTO/COO of

E-Trade E-Trade Financial Corporation (stylized as E*TRADE) is a financial services subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, which offers an electronic trading platform to trade financial assets. The company receives revenue from interest income on margin balanc ...

), and Duncan Niederauer (former Chief Executive Officer of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

). Fantex's board of advisors consists of business executives and former professional athletes, including

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

. Fantex was launched in the fall of 2013, when the company filed its first IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fantex's first offering was announced to be running back

Arian Foster Arian Isa Foster (born August 24, 1986) is a former American football running back and current musical artist under the name Bobby Feeno. He played college football at the University of Tennessee, and was signed by the Houston Texans of the Nati ...

of the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

, but it was postponed due to injury. In April 2014, Fantex proceeded with tight end

of the

as its first successful IPO. Over the next 18 months, the company brought five more football player stocks to market. In September 2015, Fantex signed a contract with its first non-football athlete, Los Angeles Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney. In January 2016, the company signed a deal with its first golfer, Scott Langley. Fantex has signed contracts with eleven athletes and has completed six IPOs worth a total of $25.8 million. In August 2016, the company closed its platform to individual investors, and in March 2017 the company's CEO and co-founder, Cornell French, left Fantex.

Timeline

References

{{reflist, 2 * * * * Companies based in San Francisco Financial services companies based in California American companies established in 2012 2012 establishments in California