Hot Topic buying Geeknet for about $117.3 million

The retailer Hot Topic is buying the parent company of ThinkGeek and ThinkGeek Solutions for about $117.3 million.

ThinkGeek sells clothing, toys, gadgets and other products mostly based on popular movies, television shows and brands with “geek” appeal. That includes “Star Trek,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Star Wars” and the Marvel brand.

ThinkGeek Solutions is a distributor of video-game themed merchandise through licensed web stores.

Hot Topic Inc. will pay $17.50 per Geeknet share. That’s more than double the company’s Friday closing price of $7.90.

The companies put the transaction’s total value at approximately $122 million.

Shares of Geeknet Inc., which is based in Fairfax, Virginia, more than doubled, rising $9.19 to $17.09 on morning trading Tuesday.

Privately held Hot Topic, based in Los Angeles, has more than 650 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Geeknet will become a Hot Topic subsidiary.