SkyBox International

In 1990, The Liggett Group Inc., a U.S. tobacco company, announced it would change its name to Brooke Group Ltd. and split into two subsidiaries, Liggett Group Inc. and Impel Marketing Inc. Liggett covered the tobacco business, while Impel covered its non-tobacco activities. At the time of the announcement, the company had small businesses in collectible football and basketball cards as well as confectionery products, both of which used the same distribution channels as cigarettes.{{cite web|last=Ramirez |first=Anthony |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/22/business/liggett-to-change-its-focus-with-shift-from-cigarettes.html |title=Liggett to Change Its Focus With Shift From Cigarettes

|newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 22, 1990 |access-date=June 3, 2016}} Impel was to be headquartered in Durham, North Carolina and was expected to broaden the scope of the company's sports and entertainment business.

Impel Marketing changed its name to SkyBox International Inc. in April 1992.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/16/business/company-briefs-951592.html|title=Company Briefs|date=April 16, 1992|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 12, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} That same year, the company appointed Magic Johnson as its spokesperson.{{cite web|last=Elliott |first=Stuart |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/21/business/the-media-business-advertising-addenda-miscellany.html |title=The Media Business - Advertising - Addenda - Miscellany |newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 21, 1992|access-date=June 3, 2016}} In June 1993, SkyBox started making milk caps under the name SkyCaps beginning with DC SkyCaps.{{cite web|url=https://www.courant.com/1993/07/26/will-cardboard-caps-from-milk-bottles-become-cream-of-all/ |title=Will Cardboard Caps From Milk Bottles Become Cream Of All |newspaper=Hartford Courant|date=July 26, 1993 |access-date=June 3, 2016}} Later that year, Brooke Group, Inc. spun SkyBox off as a NASDAQ traded public company.{{cite news|last1=Norris|first1=Floyd|title=Market Place; The Brooke Group thinks more of a spinoff than the market does|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/08/business/market-place-the-brooke-group-thinks-more-of-a-spinoff-than-the-market-does.html|access-date=June 3, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 8, 1993}}

On March 10, 1995, Marvel Entertainment, a comic book publisher and maker of Fleer baseball and hockey cards, announced a purchase of SkyBox for $150 million which was completed two months later in May.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-10-fi-41125-story.html |title=Other News |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=March 10, 1995 |access-date=June 3, 2016}}{{cite news|url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/mar/10/marvel-entertainment-agrees-to-buy-skybox-deal/|title=Marvel Entertainment Agrees To Buy Skybox Deal May Strengthen Marvel's Spot In Trading Card Business|newspaper=The Spokesman-Review|agency=Associated Press|date=March 10, 1995|access-date=October 2, 2020}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/10/business/company-news-marvel-to-buy-rival-card-maker.html|title=COMPANY NEWS: MARVEL TO BUY RIVAL TRADING-CARD MAKER|newspaper=The New York Times|agency=Reuters|date=March 10, 1995|access-date=October 2, 2020}}{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-05-03-9505030136-story.html|title=MARVEL COMPLETES SKYBOX PURCHASE|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=May 3, 1995|access-date=October 2, 2020}}

Marvel merged SkyBox and Fleer as Fleer/SkyBox International and The company headquarters were moved from Downtown Durham, NC to Mount Laurel, NJ. The company was later sold to Alex Grass and his son, Roger Grass in February 1999.{{cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/1999-02-04/sports/25504307_1_skybox-alex-grass-rite-aid |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402093800/http://articles.philly.com/1999-02-04/sports/25504307_1_skybox-alex-grass-rite-aid |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |title=Fleer/Skybox Sale Finally Goes Through |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=February 4, 1999 |access-date=June 3, 2016}}

SkyBox produced many licensed non-sports trading cards, including sets for Disney (1995),[https://www.collectors.com/trading-cards/skybox-skybox-disney-premium/134735 Sky Box Disney] on Collectors.com Star Trek (since 1993) and Marvel Comics (2010).[https://www.scifihobby.com/products/marvel/marvel70/ Marvel 70th anniversary trading cards] on Scifihobby.com SkyBox also produced SkyCaps, its milk caps games brand. Cap series included DC Comics characters, Jurassic Park, Batman: Knightfall, and a National Football League series.

One of the first card companies on the Internet, SkyBox branched into multimedia, producing CD-ROM collectibles and games. With Skyborg: Into the Vortex, the company stated, "SkyBox is well-known for its marketing and technological innovations, of which this first-ever interactive, multimedia card line, which is also SkyBox's first CD-ROM product, is only the most recent example."{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

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Category:Publishing companies established in 1990

Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in North Carolina

Category:Trading card companies

Category:1990 establishments in North Carolina

Category:1995 disestablishments in North Carolina

Category:Publishing companies disestablished in 1995

Category:1995 mergers and acquisitions