by The Editors on December 7, 2012
Vail Resorts, Inc., the big box of the snow resort industry, is apparently doing so well with their Colorado and California resorts that they are reaching out to grab two resorts in the midwest, according to a story on Sports One Source.
Vail Resorts, Inc. has entered into agreements to purchase two premier urban ski areas in the Midwest, Afton Alps in Minnesota and Mount Brighton in Michigan, for total cash consideration of $20 million. Both ski areas serve major snow sports markets in the Midwest with more than 468,000 active skiers and snowboarders in the nearby Minneapolis-St. Paul and Detroit metropolitan areas.
These two resorts will be added to Vail’s resort portfolio which already includes: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood. To big to fail, right?
[Link: Sports One Source]
by The Editors on December 6, 2012
The SnowSports Industry of America released their fall SIA RetailTRAK numbers today (December 6, 2012) for the period August through October 2012 and it wasn’t good news.
The snow sports market declined 2%, but reached $616M in sales so far this season (August through October) despite significant disruptions in retail sales in the South and Northeast regions due to Hurricane Sandy, uncertainty in the face of the “fiscal cliff,” and lack of momentum from the snow-challenged 2011/2012 season.
And you thought last fall was bad for sales? We’ll just pray for a good Christmas. For the official word from SIA, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on December 3, 2012
The Vladimir Gusinsky Living Trust (click the link it’s worth it) has reportedly sued Quicksilver CEO Bob McKnight and the board of directors over some restricted stock that was given to several top executives at the company, according to a story in BloombergBusinessweek.
Awards of 4 million restricted stock units to McKnight, Pierre Agnes, president of Quiksilver Europe, and Craig Stevenson, the company’s chief operating officer, violated a 2000 stock incentive plan, according to the complaint filed today by the Vladimir Gusinsky Living Trust. . . The awards are “a waste of the company’s corporate assets and a breach of fiduciary duties owed to the company and its shareholders by the members of the compensation committee,” the trust said in the filing in Delaware Chancery Court.
The trust apparently wants Quiksilver to “improve its corporate governance procedures” and recoup some “unspecific damages” according to the story. What good is being CEO if you can’t give yourself a little stock everyone once in a while?
[Link: Bloomberg Business]
by The Editors on November 30, 2012
After announcing that it’s back-to-school sales were softer in the third quarter Zumiez shares fell in after-hours trading by seven percent on Thursday evening November 29, 2012, according to a story on Bloomberg Businessweek.
Zumiez reported net income of $12.7 million, or 40 cents per share, for the period that ended Oct. 29. This is down from $14.1 million, or 45 cents per share, in the third quarter of the prior year. The most recent quarter included 10 cents per share in costs tied to its acquisition of Blue Tomato and 1 cent per share of costs tied with its relocation of its corporate offices to Lynnwood, Wash.
The company blamed a drop in November sales on Superstorm Sandy. Why not? Zumiez stock bounced a little this morning and honestly, minor dips of this size are barely worth mentioning. But we already typed it in this far (and you’re reading it) so whateves.
[Link: Bloomberg Businessweek]
by The Editors on November 27, 2012
Large companies often make seriously idiotic decisions. For instance, when Nike bought surf brand Hurley back in 2002 someone at the company decided that even though they had a solid surf brand, they would also dive into surf category with the Nike brand and compete directly with the company they just bought. Well, those days are reportedly over according to a story on Shop-Eat-Surf.
Nike is announcing this morning it will exit the surf category for the Nike brand and roll all surf resources under the Hurley umbrella, including Nike’s marquee young surf team riders like Julian Wilson, Carissa Moore and Kolohe Andino. . . . Going forward, Nike will focus Nike action sports on skateboarding and snowboarding, a company spokeswoman said.
Nike has done quite well in skateboarding, but we’ll bet their snowboarding efforts will continue moving in a direction very similar to their surf work. Then again, maybe they could buy an established snowboard brand. Hmmm, anyone know any recently streamlined companies with a strong last name and great brand recognition?
[Link: Shop Eat Surf]
by The Editors on November 26, 2012
Jenkem Mag has a great essay from Lurper on how corporations are taking over skateboarding and what that means to skateboarders and skateboarding. And it includes nuggets like this:
As George Ritzer points out in The McDonaldization of Society, businesses attempt to operate in an extremely efficient fashion. They focus on making everything quantifiable (skatemetrics) rather than focusing on creating subjective quality (“best” video part), they want everything to be predictable (i.e. standardized, the same experience every time), and they want all aspects of a business or activity to be easily controlled, basically the antithesis of what skateboarding is today. As the corporation’s values become more and more apart of skateboarding and influence the ideologies of individual skaters, the greater the potential that our activity will fundamentally change.
Kind of puts skateboarding business in perspective doesn’t it? If you have time, read the rest.
[Link: Jenkem Mag]
by The Editors on November 21, 2012
In another twist in the Billabong buyout story, Paul Naude has announced that he is stepping aside from his roll as board member and president of Billabong US for six weeks as he seeks “talks with financiers and gain support for a bid proposal” to purchase the company himself in a leveraged buyout, according to story in Bloomberg Businessweek.
“Paul’s generally viewed quite favorably by the market, which makes this an interesting trade,” Nick Berry, a retail analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc., said by telephone from Sydney. “If either a bid isn’t forthcoming or it gets knocked back it’s going to be very difficult for him to go back.”
A Naude led Billabong could be great for everyone, we wish him the best of luck. The market certainly seems to be happy about it as the stock is up 11 percent. Click here to read Jeff Harbaugh’s thoughts on the deal, or follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 20, 2012
The Agenda Show is not yet a teen, but it is amazing how far founders Aaron Levant and Seth Haber have brought the show in its ten years. This year will be the biggest with 600 brands in Long Beach and 150 in NYC in January.
“It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 10 years since AGENDA’s humble start in Long Beach,” said AGENDA founder Aaron Levant. “It’s amazing to see how far AGENDA has come as an independent show over the last decade.”
Happy Birthday dear Agenda, Happy Birthday to you. For the official word follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 17, 2012
Shareholders of Globe International have “rejected its executive pay structure for a second straight year,” according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Almost 86 per cent of votes cast at Globe’s annual general meeting on Wednesday were against the company’s remuneration report for the 2011-12 financial year. . . That follows a 74 per cent vote against Globe’s pay policy at last year’s annual general meeting. . . Under new corporate laws, shareholders of a company receiving two consecutive votes of 25 per cent or more against its remuneration can force the company’s board to face re-election.
Apparently, the shareholders (who only own 8.6 percent of the company) don’t like the fact that CEO Matt Hill made $721,720 in a year when the company only made $100,000 in profits. So, Globe has 90 days to have a “spill meeting.” Wonder how that will go?
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
by The Editors on November 15, 2012
This is just a reminder to those who plan like we do (at the last minute) that the 2013 SIA Snow Show runs January 31 – February 4, 2013.
Scheduled for January 31 – February 3, at the Colorado Convention Center, the 2013 SIA Snow Show four-day event expects to draw over 19,000 attendees including suppliers, retailers, reps, athletes, media and professionals from across the globe. The Snow Show, which sold out in booth space last May, will feature over 950 snow sports brands covering over 334,000 net square feet of exhibit space including 40 new exhibitors that are brand new to the Show or returning after taking a hiatus.
It wouldn’t be a bad time to book your trip. Then again, we’ve never practiced what we preach because we’re not the kind of people we’re preaching to. Follow the jump for all the official details. [click to continue…]
Vail Resorts, Inc., the big box of the snow resort industry, is apparently doing so well with their Colorado and California resorts that they are reaching out to grab two resorts in the midwest, according to a story on Sports One Source.
