by The Editors on November 12, 2012
Burton Snowboards is getting a little more serious about Canada with the hiring of former [drink of the colored cow] employee Sebastien Paradis as the company’s first General Manager for Burton Canada.
“Canada is so important for Burton and snowboarding in general, so it’s exciting to step up our investments there in sales, marketing and retail support,” said John Lacy, EVP of Product and North American Sales. “Sebastien is the ideal person to lead this effort as he brings an impressive combination of industry credibility and first-hand knowledge of the Canadian market. We’re confident he will make great things happen for the brand and the sport in the region.”
Burton is seriously getting on top of things lately. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 12, 2012
According to a story on All Things D Google’s YouTube is about ready to “pull the plug” on 60 percent of its channel programming deals, you remember, all that money that was given to channels like Network A, Tony Hawk’s Ride Channel, Red Bull Media House etc. . .
This week, Google’s video site will start offering new contracts to some of the channel programmers/creators it signed up in the last year. But not all of them: YouTube figures it will end up re-investing in up to 40 percent of its original channels by the time the renewal process is done. . . YouTube will handle renewals in batches, starting with the first set of channels that launched in January of this year.
If we go by Adage.com’s weekly ranking of the YouTube Channels and guess that Google is going to save save their top performing channels and lose the bottom, then it would appear that number 17 ranked Ride Channel might just make the cut. But then, we have no idea how Google with sort this out. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
[Link: All Things D]
by The Editors on November 7, 2012
Mammoth Mountain’s little sibling resort June Mountain (which is closed for the season) will be relaunched with a complete makeover for the 2013-14 season, according to a story on MammothTimes.com.
“We’re going to open it up,” he said during an interview. “We submitted our operating plan to the Forest Service and now we’re waiting for approval, and part of that operating plan is letting them know that we intend to open it as normal for the 2013-14 season.” . . It is in essence a re-launch of the ski area, which is owned by Mammoth Mountain. Gregory said Mammoth would take the year to more clearly hone June Mountain’s mission and to target its marketing base.
Good news, huh?
[Link: Mammoth Times]
by The Editors on November 7, 2012
Legendary new school snowboarder Dale Rehberg has been named Director of Marketing at Flow Snowboards.
“Dale was one of a cast of characters that helped pioneer the whole jib scene in the 90’s, a period which paved the way for today’s park and freestyle scene. Unfortunately, snowboarding has lost a bit of its irreverent, pioneering ways. We believe that Dale can bring this back to the sport and most certainly to Flow. Dales is authentic, fearless and a true maverick. We look forward to all the great things he will bring to the Flow brand.” – said, Flow Sports CEO, Anthony Scaturro.
It’s always good to see people with deep, deep roots in snowboarding moving into positions of leadership in the business. Congrats, Dale. For the official word from Flow, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 5, 2012
A Stifel Nicolaus analyst named Jim Duffy reportedly upgraded his rating on Quiksilver to buy from hold and the stock jump a whopping 38 cents to $3.78 a share on Monday, according to a story in Businessweek.
The company’s updated management could bring new energy to the company. Some leaders are also approaching deadlines in their restricted stock grants that would provide a strong incentive for them to get the stock price back up. . . Duffy also said that early hints of stabilization in Europe and some lower administrative costs could improve Quiksilver’s revenue and margin picture in 2013.
Looks like Duffy’s plan is working.
[Link: BusinessWeek]
by The Editors on November 2, 2012
Thanks to a strong dollar (hard to believe we know) Rip Curl is getting yanked into the same undertow that’s been chewing on Billabong for the past 10 months, according to a story in the Herald Sun.
The prominent Victorian company is being buffetted by the strong dollar and weak consumer sentiment and will start to cut jobs and close stores overseas. . . BusinessDaily can reveal Rip Curl, which is privately owned, suffered a net loss of $4.1 million for the year to June. A year ago, it recorded a $7.9 million profit, and three years ago its profit clocked in above $30 million. . . Finance director Lachlan Farran said the group had shouldered one-off costs for a European restructure and to meet accounting rules linked to its purchase of the Ozmosis and Waves brands.
Guess this wave of bad news is continuing to roll.
[Link: Herald Sun]
by The Editors on October 31, 2012
The Stokes Me Challenge, in which brands, organizations, and individuals competed to raise money for Humanitarian Organizations is over and the winners are? Reef founders Fernando Aguerre and Santiago Aguerre of Liquid Tribe. They reportedly raised $7,500. Judy Burlingham raised the most money as an individual fundraiser for a total of $6,650 winning a trip for two to Hawaii and the Triple Crown.
“Thank you to all of those that became personally invested with the Stokes Me Challenge as it is surfers like you who are at the heart of this cause,” said Ross Garrett, SIMA Humanitarian Fund President and Vice President at Surfline. “Raising $78,000 in our first year of the Challenge is exciting and I know that we will only continue to grow as we support the amazing work of surf-related humanitarian organizations making a difference in our world.”
For the official word follow the jump [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 25, 2012
In the hours following the announcement that Burton Snowboards would “exit out of” The Program brands by 2014 a hash meme started: #GiveFORUMtoPeter.
We saw it first in Todd Richards’ Instafeed. Then today Board As Fuck featured a link to the website GiveForumtopeter.com. That site features a online petition that as of tonight (October 25, 2012) has 4,534 supporters.
All this was obviously too much for the mind behind The Tackled Box because he let loose one of the best snowboard rants we’ve read in years. It starts out like this:
Are you kidding me? All the hoopla over saving Forum? GIVE it back to Peter? Really? Shit if there was this much excitement over the brand during the last few years the brand wouldn’t have been put to rest. You want to know why Burton cut the cord on Forum? Cause not too many people gave too many shits about it, that’s why. Forum is a brand that failed and by the grace of the snowboard Gods in Vermont got a second chance at life and then failed again.
That’s only the first paragraph. For the rest of the hilarious, biting, unauthorized history of the Forum brand as only a competitor can put it down, click the link.
[Link: TackledBox]
by The Editors on October 25, 2012
Amer Sport the Helsinki, Finland based parent company of Salomon, Bonfire, and Nikita reported their financials for the quarter ending September 2012. Profits appeared flat versus 2011 with net sales increased by two percent, and unfortunately winter hardgoods sales were down by 12 percent, according to Marketwatch.
“Our Q3 sales were driven by strong on-going momentum in Apparel (27% growth), as well as continuous improvement in Suunto (+24%), Fitness (10%), Tennis (+8%) and Cycling (+7%),” said Keikki Takala, president and CEO of Amer Sport. “As expected, Winter Sports Equipment declined in line with the previously communicated low pre-orders, despite our strengthened market position.”
Guess their trouble in winter sports equipment is old news. For the official word and all the numbers click the link.
[Link:Marketwatch]
by The Editors on October 24, 2012
No one expected Billabong founder Gordon Merchant would go away quietly, but it was interesting to see him sink nearly AUS$800,000 more into the company by snapping up 900,058 shares last week. This new stock, purchased in two buys on October 18 and 19, 2012, brings his total holdings to 69,705,463 shares or AUS$59,946,698.18 worth (maybe he need them to increase his voting power).
At Billabong’s Annual General Meeting today (October 24, 2012 on the Gold Coast) Merchant was re-elected to the board by a vote of 198 million for to 92 million against. Collette Paull was re-elected by a vote of 197 million for to 92 million against. The closest board re-election race was Billabong US President Paul Naude. He slipped back onto the board with 160 million for and 129 million against suggesting that more than a few shareholders are not happy with his performance on the board.
For the official word from Billabong featuring that addition of Howard Mowlem to the board and the complete Annual General Meeting voting stats, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Burton Snowboards is getting a little more serious about Canada with the hiring of former [drink of the colored cow] employee Sebastien Paradis as the company’s first General Manager for Burton Canada.
