Fandom Inc. to Shut Down Online Operations
Posted on April 4, 2001
Debra Streicker-Fine, CEO of Fandom Inc., an entertainment media company for fantasy, horror and science fiction fans, announced that the company is shutting down its online operations. Fandom has streamlined operations and let approximately 20 of its 100 employees go in the Santa Monica and Virginia offices. Its offline properties, Cinescape and Creation Entertainment, will continue to operate. Streicker-Fine also reported in an interview with LocalBusiness that Fandom, Inc. would be acquired in the near future.
Cinescape publishes Cinescape Magazine, an action/adventure/science fiction magazine focusing on film, television and new media and owns and operates the website Cinescape.com. Creation Entertainment is a producer of conventions, merchandise, and clubs for fans of selected television series and films.
Fandom had acquired Another Universe -- now FandomShop -- in Q1 2000, and Cinescape and Creation Entertainment in Q4 2000, when Streicker-Fine was working as an advisor to the company. She was named CEO in January to finalize the business unit consolidations and move the company to profitability.
According to Streicker-Fine, ``For the last three months we have had productive meetings and a series of opportunities to take Fandom to the next level, but the depressed marketplace has forced many companies to close, especially affecting online companies. We expect our offline companies, Cinescape and Creation, to continue.''
Fandom Inc. was started in 1999 as a catalog company and has grown to become a media and entertainment distributor that consolidates fragmented fan bases and addresses them with licensed merchandise, magazines, fan clubs, fan conventions, and collectibles auctions. Fandom aggregates entertainment franchises, including studio films and television series, collector's items, hobbies, and sports to reach fan audiences via its media network. The online store offers over 7,000 items. Company founder Mark Young stepped down in January.