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Beckett Media

Beckett Media, LLC
Private
Industry Electronic publishing, publishing
Genre Automotive, collectibles, entertainment, sports, trading cards, video game
Founded Bowling Green, Ohio (1984)
Founder James Beckett
Headquarters Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Area served
U.S.
Key people
Products Collector memorabilia, books, DVDs, magazines, novelties, pricing guides
Services Sports card grading
Revenue $14.1 million (2007)
Number of employees
135
Divisions magazine publication, Beckett Grading Services
Website http://www.beckett.com/, http://www.beckettmedia.com/ http://www.beckett-authentication.com/

Beckett Media is a privately held company. Founded in 1984 by James Beckett as Beckett Publications, the company focuses on the collectible industries, especially in the area of sports collectibles.

James Beckett, considered to be one of the world's leading authorities on sports memorabilia cards, was a statistics professor before he decided to turn his love of sports cards into a business. In the 1970s, Beckett was responsible for some of the baseball card industry's earliest price guides, which offered more detail on the prices of specific cards than the newsletters that had previously been read by collectors. He founded Beckett Publications in 1984.

In January 2005, Beckett sold the company to Apprise Media, which wanted to expand its niche and enthusiast media holdings. The company was renamed Beckett Media as part of the sale. On 26 January 2005, Apprise Media hired Peter A. Gudmundsson as the company CEO.

Less than four years after the Apprise Media acquisition, Beckett Media was rumored to again be for sale in May 2008, with five unspecified companies considering purchasing the company.

In 2010, the company began an overhaul of its online presence. On 8 March 2010, the company announced that it was partnering with SeatGeek as part of its website enhancement. Through the partnership, sports ticket search engine SeatGeek links will be included on all of the site's major sports team and leagues pages that allow viewers to directly access SeatGeek's ticket search system for that team.

Beckett Media publishes numerous price guides and other books related to collectibles and distributes sports memorabilia. One of the company's early publications was Beckett Baseball Card Monthly, which had a peak readership of around one million. Author Dave Jamieson has written that "Jim Beckett's valuations served as the foundation for all card trades". In 2008, Beckett converted its four monthly price guides for football, baseball, hockey, and basketball cards, into seasonal titles. Beckett Sports Card Monthly became its only monthly sports related magazine with its premiere in April 2008.

The company also publishes four magazines covering non-sports collectible card games, such as Magic: The Gathering, and hobby/entertainment topics such as anime and manga. In 2005, the various titles had a combined circulation of 800,000 copies. In 2008, the circulation varies between 500,000 and 700,000, and the company began cutting back on its monthly publications to reduce overhead. While the plan was successful, it also earned the company flack from consumers and caused a continuing decrease in sales. In 2003, virtual pets site Neopets selected Beckett Media as the publisher of its new monthly Neopets: The Official Magazine. The bi-monthly magazine premiered in September 2003, and was canceled in January 2008 after 26 issues. Beckett replace the issues remaining in pre-paid subscriptions with their new bi-monthly magazine, Plushie Pals. Aimed at plushie collectors, Plushie Pals includes pricing guides for a range of plushie lines, including Neopets, Webkinz, Shining Stars, TY Beanie Babies, and Pokémon. In October 2009, Beckett replaced Plushie Pals with a new magazine, FUN! Online Games, which focuses on various kid and family oriented online game sites, including Webkinz, Club Penguin, Neopets, Disney Online and Wizard 101. According to the company, in its first month it had 100,000 readers.


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