Collēctīvus Holdings was announced Tuesday as the new parent company for Beckett Media & Collectibles and two other brands in the hobby.
In addition to Beckett, Collēctīvus Holdings will oversee Dragon Shield, a popular brand of trading card accessories, and card distributor Southern Hobby Distribution.
According to the announcement, all three brands will remain independent but will “benefit from an added layer of coordination and strategy from a global leadership team.”
“We’re thrilled. It’s truly a new beginning,” Kevin Isaacson, CEO of Collēctīvus Holdings, said in a statement. “We enter 2025 with an incredible team of dedicated hobbyists, motivated investors, and a dedicated customer base that appreciates our 100-plus year commitment to success across the Beckett, Dragon Shield, and Southern Hobby companies."
Isaacson was previously the CEO of Beckett.
A spokesperson for Collēctīvus Holdings confirmed to cllct Tuesday the parent company is the result of a new “strategic plan” and not an acquisition.
Additional details regarding financing for Collēctīvus Holdings weren’t immediately made available.
The future of Beckett, its price guide and its grading services had become increasingly unclear in recent weeks after Greg Lindberg, the chairman for the investment company that owns Beckett, pleaded guilty in a $2 billion fraud and money laundering scheme.
Founded in 1984 by Dr. James Beckett, Beckett and its related brands have been beloved by the collectibles community for decades.
Prior to advancements in pricing data, the Beckett Price Guide was considered the go-to resource for buying and selling sports cards.
Beckett Grading Services was later founded in 1999 and featured a transparent grading process that provided subgrades for four individual categories in addition to an overall score. Dr. Beckett sold Beckett Media in 2005.
Once considered by many to be the industry standard, BGS has waned in recent years as PSA has captured the majority of the grading industry’s market share.
According to third-party grading tracker GemRate, Beckett graded roughly 34,000 cards in November. The total placed Beckett fourth among the four major grading companies, with PSA grading 1.26 million items, CGC Cards grading 218,000 and SGC grading 129,000.
A spokesperson for Collēctīvus Holdings said the new arrangement would allow for increased investment in Beckett and the other brands.
"Collēctīvus Holdings will be able to more adequately and more thoroughly invest in its brands that it currently has, as well as maybe see if there are more brands that can be brought under the Collēctīvus umbrella," the spokesperson said.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.