Snapfish to acquire CafePress for about $25.3 million

Struggling Louisville ecommerce retailer CafePress will be acquired by Snapfish for a stock deal worth about $25.3 million (17.1 million shares at $1.48 per share). According to the announcement, CafePress will remain in Louisville.

Founded in 1999 by Fred Dunham and Maheesh Jain in California, CafePress has worked to improve profitability and spur growth after several tough years, according to company reports. “In July 2017, Durham said that a change in Google’s search algorithm, increased shipping costs and costs to modernize the CafePress website all knocked the company off its course,” the Louisville Business Journal reported. “The company laid off 12 employees in January, and in February, Durham slashed his own salary to help cut costs at his ailing company. But in March, CafePress announced another 7 percent reduction in its staff, including laying off two executives. All of the cuts combined led to $7 million saved in annual fixed costs.”

Despite the recent challenges, CafePress is one of Louisville’s largest public companies, with annual revenues of $85.7 million in 2017.

Press release below:

Snapfish to Expand Product Offerings with CafePress Acquisition

SAN FRANCISCO and LOUISVILLE, Ky., Sept. 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — To expand its photo and non-photo product offerings, Snapfish, LLC (“Snapfish”) the premier personalized photo service and CafePress(NASDAQ:PRSS), a leading retailer of engaging merchandise and personalized gifts, today announced that they have entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger pursuant to which Snapfish would acquire CafePress. Under the terms of the agreement, which was approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, a subsidiary of Snapfish will commence a tender offer for all the outstanding shares of CafePress common stock. The acquisition would create a combined platform of photo and non-photo-based products that would produce hundreds of thousands of personalized products for consumers globally.

“We are looking forward to welcoming CafePress and its employees into the Snapfish organization and working with them during the next phases of each company’s evolution,” said Jasbir Patel, CEO of Snapfish. “Since its beginning in 1999, CafePress has been a leader in print-on-demand, personalized and custom merchandise because of its design community and best-in-class manufacturing capabilities. We look forward to leveraging CafePress’ highly efficient and innovative manufacturing process to further enhance our manufacturing capabilities. We are excited to combine our efforts to provide our customers more options and more value.”

“Today marks a critical turning point in our pursuit to return CafePress to its market-leading position in the personalized and expressive gift category. We are excited about the opportunity to accelerate growth by leveraging our content portfolio across Snapfish’s distribution channels,” said Fred Durham, founder and CEO of CafePress, Inc. “We take great pride in being the pioneer of offering personalized and custom merchandise to consumers and believe this transaction provides an opportunity to further our leading position as well as return value to our stockholders.”

The transaction is expected to provide additional scale to two companies with almost 40 years of combined experience in the photo and personalization space. The transaction, once closed, would enable Snapfish to access over one billion content items, and a massive array of designs that are crowdsourced from a global community of more than two million independent designers. The transaction is also expected to bring partnerships to Snapfish with major entertainment properties. Additionally, following the closing of the transaction, CafePress would have access to additional manufacturing, marketing, and merchandising capabilities to expand its scope.

Snapfish has received Support Agreements from certain CafePress stockholders, directors and management totaling approximately 51% of the outstanding common stock of CafePress. The transaction is expected to close in early November and is subject to customary closing conditions, including the tender into the offer by CafePress stockholders of shares representing at least a majority of the outstanding common stock.

Needham & Company, LLC is acting as financial advisor to CafePress and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP is acting as legal advisor to CafePress in the transaction. Arent Fox LLP is acting as legal advisor to Snapfish in the transaction.

About Snapfish

Headquartered in San Francisco, Ca., Snapfish is the leader in online photo printing services. Founded in 1999, it provides high-quality photo products to consumers looking for great value and selection. The company operates in multiple countries around the world and supports blue-chip companies’ photo efforts. For more information, visit www.Snapfish.com

About CafePress (PRSS)

At CafePress, our mission is to create human connection by inspiring people to express themselves. We believe a coffee mug can start a conversation and a t-shirt can ignite a movement. For more information, visit www.cafepress.com.

Founded in 1999 and based in Louisville, Ky., CafePress is the recognized pioneer of customizable products. Our global online platform enables people to express themselves through engaging community generated designs and licensed and personalized one-of-a-kind products.