Mark Occhilupo’s former accountant, Noel Holmes, had sued the pro surfer in Brisbane Supreme Court claiming that he gave Occy $50,000 to buy 21,739 friends and family shares of Billabong stock just before it went public in 2000 and now he want’s the nearly $200,000 proceeds back. Occy apparently believed the shares belonged to him, according to a story on ABC.net.au.
But today it all got sorted out in an out-of-court settlement, according to the Courier Mail.
Lawyers for the disputing parties have spent most of today in private discussions. . . An out-of-court settlement was reached and details were not disclosed.
As might not be surprising, Occy is glad it’s over and just wants to get back in the water. “”The first thing when I get back to the coast I’ll be going for a surf for sure and take my shirt off,” Occhilupo said outside court.
Anyone truly into the art of surfboards already knows about the expo and has probably attended every single one of them. But for those of us who buy our boards off the rack and only think about them when something goes horribly wrong, having the Sacred Craft as the fourth horseman of this fall’s ASR Trade Show apocalypse was the perfect chance for us to see something we’ve so far missed entirely. And we don’t think we were alone
For a while 87-year-old O’Neill brand founder Jack O’Neill was worried that a new seawall being built by the County of Santa Cruz, California would cause the land in front of his Pleasure Point home to erode away even more that it has, according to a story in the San Jose Mercury News. So he was asking for the County to extend their wall past the front of his home.
I was satisfied with my house the way it was,” O’Neill said Wednesday, looking out at the emerging seawall that runs up against his property. “But the wall creates a little hurricane when the sand and sea get washed down, and it eats out what’s at the end.” . . O’Neill’s seawall plans call for expansion of the county’s concrete seawall around his property. The work, which he says will cost him at least $1 million, involves removing the rock and riprap that now offers him protection from the waves and replacing them with a sturdier wall contoured around his home.
Last week, the California Coastal Commission approved O’Neill’s plans for the wall as long as he didn’t develop the property next to him. Looks like Jack will be on the point for a few more years.
This story has been written up pretty much everywhere already, but as Podium was nice enough to send out the press release (including this photo of Mike Dunlap and Justin Reyes) we decided we’d throw in our two cents.
Here’s what they’re saying:
Under the terms of the new agreement Billabong will distribute Podium brands DVS, Matix, and Lakai in Australia as well as New Zealand alongside its current line of in-house brands including Element, Nixon, Von Zipper, Kustom Footwear and Plan B. . . .Although Billabong will assume full distribution of Podium’s brands in Australia, the company’s distribution responsibilities in New Zealand will be limited to Billabong’s company retail store channels as well as stores belonging to the Billabong-owned Amazon retail chain.
While we sort out our thoughts on the fall ASR/ Class/ Crossroads/ Sacred Craft aggregation of trade showshere are some photos from Friday, August 13, 2010.
Every year Volcom chooses a theme and sticks to it for the entire trade show season. They’ve done hippies, hillbillies, and this year they raved it up with Volcom Techno Beach.
This clip is only one minute long. By the time the 2010 Fall Action Sports Retailer Show closes on Sunday, August 15, 2010 Volcom employees will have relived this minute 1,380 times. And then they will get to do it all again at Surf Expo next month, and at SIA in Janaury 2011. How’s that for dedication to the brand?
Mossimo has done it. Jean Paul Gaultier, too. Even Shaun White has done a deal with Target. Now Paul Rodriguez is taking money from the discount retailer, too. And to make it more real, he’s tied this deal to his childhood.
“I grew up right across the street from a Target and have many memories of skating over to the store as a kid,” said Paul. “I’ve always loved their brand and am excited about the relationship and potential of what we can do together.”
But more than anything, we’re guessing Paul loves that massive paycheck that only a multi-national discount retailing sponsor can provide. Wonder what products his name will go on first. . . we’re guessing they’ll do the entire Shaun White line with new P-Rod graphics.
We’ve always admired the work of San Clemente, California based shaper Cole Simlar, but have never spoken with him. Kind of bummed on that after watching this video. Some of his work will be on display at the Billabong Art of Shaping: Orange County Edition August 13-14, 2010 at the ASR Trade Show.
The Rhone Group, the international leveraged buyout firm that saved Quiksilver from financial peril to the tune of $150 million in June of 2009, and then traded $75 million of that debt for 16.7 million shares in the company last month, has now “acted on all its options” and traded the rest of the debt in for 14 million more shares (at $4.50 a share) in Quiksilver common stock, according to papers filed with the SEC. As might not be surprising Quik CEO Bob McKnight is pleased with the deal.
“We’re delighted to complete this debt for equity exchange as another important step toward further de-leveraging our balance sheet. The transaction provides us with additional operating and financial flexibility. We especially want to thank Rhône for the tremendous vote of confidence in making this investment and for their ongoing belief in our company. Since extending the original term loans to us a year ago, Rhône has become a major presence in our board room and they have added significant value to our business.”
As The Rhone Group now owns close to 33 percent of the company we’re guessing they’re going to become a major presence in more than the board room rolling forward. For the entire release follow the jump. [click to continue…]
After opening their own retail stores, selling most all of their products online, and playing pretty rough with some of their highest volume retailers in recent years, it appears that Burton Snowboards (who just relaunched their website) is making an effort to give back to local shops, according to a Jake Burton letter sent to retailers and posted on The-Tackled Box.
Here’s a little of what Jake says:
While I completely back where we are at and what we have done, I also feel strongly that we need to support local shops more than ever. You are the backbone of our sport, and everyone in this industry will benefit from your growth and success. Yo will see more from us in this spirit, starting with this catalog and some of the distribution decisions we have already made. . . we know who got us here and we know how much you do for the sport. Thanks for you support and know that will will do more for you in the future.
Those are very nice thoughts. We hope local shops get some benefit from all the wonderful things Burton has planned for them because they need all the help they can get. (Click the image to read it full size)
Mark Occhilupo’s former accountant, Noel Holmes, had sued the pro surfer in Brisbane Supreme Court claiming that he gave Occy $50,000 to buy 21,739 friends and family shares of Billabong stock just before it went public in 2000 and now he want’s the nearly $200,000 proceeds back. Occy apparently believed the shares belonged to him, according to a story on ABC.net.au.
