Madison Dearborn Partners - Madison Dearborn Partners Companies, Intelsat, Michael Eisner, Topps, Univision Communications, Bolthouse Farms (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 27. Chapters: Madison Dearborn Partners companies, Intelsat, Michael Eisner, Topps, Univision Communications, Bolthouse Farms, Nuveen Investments, Cinemark Theatres, Ruth's Chris Steak House, Yankee Candle Company, MetroPCS, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, LA Fitness, VWR International, John Canning, Jr., CDW, Asurion, Boise Cascade, First Chicago Method, Tuesday Morning, National Wholesale Liquidators, Family Christian Stores, Smurfit Kappa Group, Pat Eilers. Excerpt: The Topps Company, Inc., manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. Based in New York, New York, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, hockey cards and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards. Topps itself was founded in 1938, but the company can trace its roots back to an earlier firm, American Leaf Tobacco. Founded in 1890 by Morris Shorin, the American Leaf Tobacco Co. imported tobacco to the United States and sold it to other tobacco companies. (American Leaf Tobacco should not be confused with the American Tobacco Company, which monopolized U.S.-grown tobacco during this period.) American Leaf Tobacco encountered difficulties during World War I, as it was cut off from Turkish supplies of tobacco, and later as a result of the Great Depression. Shorin's sons, Abram, Ira, Philip, and Joseph, decided to focus on a new product but take advantage of the company's existing distribution channels. To do this, they relaunched the company as Topps, with the name meant to indicate that it would be "tops" in its field. The chosen field was the manufacture of chewing gum, selected after going into the produce business was considered and rejected. At the time, chewing gum was still a relative novelty sold in individual pieces. Topps' most successful early product was Bazooka bubblegum, which was pa...