by The Editors on January 26, 2008
In the world of action sports Bnqt.com has been a bit of an outsider. Founded by a former AOL Sports-man, the site featured viral video of action sports along with a user-generated content community. Though the site never gained any traction, recognition, or significant traffic, it was still acquired by USA Today for an undisclosed amount of money.
“USA TODAY’s acquisition of Banquet is another example of the innovative ways we are trying to diversify our audience,” said Craig Moon, president and publisher of USA TODAY. “We believe that action sports are a dynamic and exciting category and that we have found an excellent stand alone brand which truly resonates with the youth audience.”
This purchase shows how desperate old media is to get involved with “the kids.” And to think, Time Warner sold their “action sports” sites a little less than a year ago. Then again, this certainly gives us hope. . .
[Link: CNNMoney.com]
by The Editors on January 23, 2008
Surfermagazine.com editor Zach Weisberg gets the chance to interview Richard Woolcott about Volcom’s recent purchase of Electric Visual and he only asks three questions. . . really Zach? And you’re calling that an exclusive? Here’s the answer to the first question:
Electric is a company that we have always felt would be a good fit for Volcom when the time was right. When Electric approached us that they were interested in looking for a strategic partner, we rolled up our sleeves and went to work. We believed we were the right company for them and fortunately everything worked out for both of us.
Click the link for the other two insightful, probing questions.
[Link: Surfermagazine.com]
by The Editors on January 18, 2008
Volcom is blaming a “weak retail environment” for causing it to lower it’s 2008 financial outlook.
The apparel company now says 10 percent earnings growth and 18 percent revenue growth “are achievable” in 2008. It previously forecast 20 percent growth for profit and sales. . . . Volcom now expects to report fourth-quarter earnings of 29 cents or 30 cents per-share on revenue of $67 million to $68 million. Volcom earlier estimated profit of 30 cents to 32 cents per share and sales of $70 million to $73 million.
[Link: CNNMoney.com]
by The Editors on January 16, 2008
It’s been rumored forever and denied forever, yet strangely today it was officially announced that Volcom, the big, powerful, publicly traded company has purchased tiny, core, eyewear company Electric Visual for $25.5 million in cash. Wooly is happy about it.
Culturally, Electric is a perfect fit for our company,” Woolcott continued. “We’ve known the Electric team for a long time, and we recognize they share the same passion and love for action sports as we do here at Volcom. Our companies are very much on the same wavelength, sharing similarities in product distribution, marketing efforts and a strong commitment to quality and innovation. Everyone here is stoked to welcome Electric into the Volcom family.”
Bruce Beach, who continually denied any such thing likes the idea as well (not surprisingly).
We believe this partnership will enable us to take the Electric brand to the next level,” said Bruce Beach, co-president and chief executive officer of Electric. “We are very excited about working closely with the Volcom team to grow our existing eyewear business and further expand into new product categories. Additionally, this partnership will enable us to grow our retail relationships and to continue to strengthen our operational capabilities.”
And we’re happy because it means we know at least four more millionaires. . . and they’re good people to know.
[Link: BusinessWire]
by The Editors on January 15, 2008
Rossignol, in one of the most insanely misdirected marketing ploys ever, has hired skater/artist Steve Caballero to design the graphics for a pair of their new S7 twin-tip powder skis. How’s that for a collab? Talk about trying to suck some life out of skateboarding. They’ve also enlisted Andy Howell to wave his magic skateboarding art wand over another pair of skis. Is this for real? No wonder Bob McKnight is “anticipating continued weakness.”
[Link: Seven Artistic Sins via Source]
by The Editors on January 14, 2008
Every year Zumiez has big part for all the people who moved more than 100k in product. This year’s party was held at Keystone, Colorado and the winner sold $600k in gear. Her name is Jennifer Huynh. She got buried in prizes handed out by two-thirds of the boarding trifecta: Kelly Slater and Tony Hawk. If only someone at T-Dub could have mentioned what shop she was from. Follow the link for all the photos.
[Link: TransWorld Snowboarding]
by The Editors on January 13, 2008
At first we thought this was a joke. But it’s not. It’s called the “Asian Fit” line and it’s Oakley’s year-old line of racially profiled eyewear.
“This line fits higher on your face with a narrower and deepened bridge,” said Andy McSorley, Oakley’s eyewear brand manager. “This helps to lift the sunglasses off the face of a person with a shallower nose bridge and higher cheek bones.”
It’s good to know not all Oakley’s customers are mini-truck driving round eyes.
[Link: Houston Chronicle]
by The Editors on January 11, 2008
In a story about Pac Sun and the challenges they fact Motley Fool writer Ron Vilieger showed exactly why he’s worth his pay check by getting really crazy with the kids lingo:
Unlike some teen retailers, the dudes at Pacific Sunwear (Nasdaq: PSUN) didn’t, like, totally biff the holiday season, but same-store sales for December weren’t as gnarly as Wall Street predicted. This news capped off what has been a choppy year and raised questions about whether shareholders should, you know, like, totally bail.
Isn’t that funny? He’s such a clever writer.
[Link: Motley Fool]
by The Editors on January 7, 2008
Shares of Zumiez fell 13 percent to a new year low when the retailer “slashed its fiscal 2007 outlook after it posted holiday sales below its expectations.
Shares of the online and mall-based retailer have slumped nearly 65 percent since their October 2007 highs, as concerns about warm weather hurting winter sales worried investors. . . “Although holiday sales were positive, we did not experience the across the board strength that we had planned for,” Zumiez Chief Executive Officer Rick Brooks said in a statement.
[Link: Reuters]
by The Editors on January 1, 2008
In a 10b5-1 prearranged stock sale Richard “Wooly” Woolcott reported that he sold 11,104 shares of Volcom stock at about $25 a piece netting him a $277,000 after Christmas bonus. He squeaked that in under the 2007 tax year.
[Link: Forbes]
In the world of action sports Bnqt.com has been a bit of an outsider. Founded by a former AOL Sports-man, the site featured viral video of action sports along with a user-generated content community. Though the site never gained any traction, recognition, or significant traffic, it was still acquired by USA Today for an undisclosed amount of money. 
