Editing Topps (section)

===Incorporation===
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2009}}

[[File:The Diamonds 1957.JPG|thumb|right|150px|Trading card featuring [[The Diamonds]] from the series of movie, television and recording stars, 1957]]
The company began its existence as Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., a partnership between the four Shorin brothers. It later incorporated under New York law in 1947. The entire company originally operated at the [[Bush Terminal]] in [[Brooklyn]], but production facilities were moved to a plant in [[Duryea, Pennsylvania]], in 1965 (the Duryea plant closed in 1997). Corporate offices remained at 254 36th Street in Brooklyn, a location in the waterfront district by the [[Gowanus Expressway]]. In 1994, the headquarters relocated to One Whitehall Street in lower [[Manhattan]].

After being privately held for several decades, Topps offered stock to the public for the first time in 1972 with the assistance of investment banking firm White, Weld & Co. The company returned to private ownership when it was acquired in a [[leveraged buyout]] led by [[Forstmann Little & Company]] in 1984. The new ownership group again made Topps into a publicly traded company in 1987, now renamed to The Topps Company, Inc. In this incarnation, the company was reincorporated under [[Delaware General Corporation Law]] for legal reasons, but company headquarters remained in New York. Management was left in the hands of the Shorin family throughout all of these maneuverings.

On October 12, 2007, Topps was acquired by Michael Eisner's [[The Tornante Company]] and [[Madison Dearborn Partners]].<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|title=Former Disney Chief Adds Topps to His Collection|url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/topps-trades-itself-to-2-buyout-firms-for-385-million/|access-date=August 18, 2017|work=DealBook. New York Times|date=March 6, 2007}}</ref> Under Eisner's direction, Topps began to expand into the entertainment and media business with plans for a ''[[Bazooka Joe]]'' movie. Former television executive Staci Weiss was hired as Topps's head of entertainment to develop projects based on Topps properties, including ''[[Garbage Pail Kids]], [[Wacky Packages]], [[Dinosaurs Attack!]], Mech Warrior'' and ''Attax''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/topps-taps-staci-weiss-head-28353 |title=Szalai, Georg. ''Hollywood Reporter'', September 26, 2010 |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=September 26, 2010 |access-date=March 14, 2012}}</ref>