Celebrate Express was sold to holding company Liberty Media for $31 million in cash, or $3.90 per share. Having been approved by the boards of both companies, the deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Liberty Interactive has ownership interests in QVC.com, Expedia and IAC/InterActive Corp and plans to merge Celebrate Express into BUYSEASONS, Inc. the internet costume and party retailer founded in 1999 and acquired by Liberty Media in 2006.
The company was founded in 1994 by Mike and Jan Jewell as Birthday Express, a catalog retailer of party supplies. It launched CelebrateExpress.com two years later. The company went public in late 2004. On its first day of trading under the Nasdaq symbol “BDAY,” shares reached as high as $17.50, before settling down slightly to close at $16.70. . In fiscal 2005 annual sales were $69.1 million and in fiscal 2006 were approximately $86 million. Other titles over the years were Costume Express and Storybook Heirlooms catalogs. Mr. Jewell resigned in 2006. Over the past year shares of Celebrate Express have traded between $2.19 and $10.70. On the day the deal with Liberty was first announced shares of Celebrate Express jumped 70%, from $2.30 to $3.90.
Depending upon when you bought stock in Celebrate Express you can celebrate and dance to the music, or put on your Joker costumer.
