by The Editors on October 17, 2012
Surfline decided to go straight to Triple Crown of Surfing founder Randy Rarick to get his perspective on what the ASP/ZoSea Media deal means to surfers, contests, and surfing in general. It would be difficult to find a wiser, more generous, experienced person in surfing to discuss this. It was interesting to see how optimistic Rarick was about it. Here’s just one of his answers:
I think the timing is right. I think they have the smarts, the drive, and the wherewithal to probably take it to the next level. We don’t have any details yet; we’re meeting in about three weeks to start hammering through those details, but I think they have some connections in the media world that we haven’t been able to tap into. And whether it be ESPN or Fox or NBC, I think you will see the elevation of surfing in the media, no question. By eliminating the specter of the brands having to try to outdo each other, now the brands can focus their energy on using these as a promotional platform and I think these ZoSea guys will bring more money into the sport simply because that’s what they want to do. They want to monetize it, and good for them. Hopefully they get rich on it. And if they get rich on it, that means the tour will improve because it’ll bring in more money, which means more money for the athletes, more money for media coverage. I’m sure some people will bemoan the loss of the soul or the grassroots-ness of the thing, you know, but commercial competitive surfing has always been like that anyway.
We would never disagree with Mr. Rarick, however, after reading the entire interview we were reminded of three things. One, TV doesn’t have the same cultural impact it once had. Two, in the new world of media efficiencies there is very little room for middlemen, and thirdly, once you give it away, it’s very difficult to get it back. But click the link and read the rest before you think too hard on any of that.
[Link: Surfline]
by The Editors on October 16, 2012
Spy is stoked to announce that they have someone to manage their elite surf team. It’s Chris Abad.
A respected and experienced pro surfer, Abad brings added authenticity to SPY’s booming eyewear business, which has seen tremendous growth over the last year and a half. . . “If you can’t out-surf Abad, you may be taken off our roster,” laughs Devon Howard, SPY marketing director. “In all seriousness, his former team manager roles, Surf Ride retail experience, and event marketing at SPY this past year make him a natural fit. But he’s more than just another guy with a great resume. Everyone loves Abad—he’s good people.”
Congrats, Chris. For the official word, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 12, 2012
Journalist Fred Pawle talks to Graham “Sid” Cassidy about a deal he nearly landed that was allegedly “the most spectacular offer the sport of surfing has ever seen, one that makes the offer from Californian media company ZoSea, which was accepted amid subdued optimism from within the sport this month, look amateur by comparison,” according to his story in The Australian.
But, in a tumultuous meeting in Hawaii in December 1996, the ASP board voted to request amendments to a contract it had signed with CSI earlier that year. CSI, the goose that had spent that year laying golden eggs, declined. At considerable expense, it walked away. Surfing has never recovered from it.
Nice to look back and claim that a past missed deal that just as easily could have ruined profession surfing was what doomed it, but it is interesting in comparison to the reportedly $20 million ZoSea deal. Click the link to read the rest.
[Link: The Australian]
by The Editors on October 11, 2012
Looks like TPG, the fund that many felt was Billabong’s only hope, has withdrawn its offer, according to story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The proposal has been withdrawn and talks have ceased, Billabong said in a statement this morning.. . The withdrawal of the bid is likely to put further pressure on Billabong’s shares as the firm struggles with a weakening retail outlook in. . . Shares in the company, which traded at nearly $12 in 2010 and fell as much as a quarter last week after TPG first raised concerned, opened 1 cent, or 1 per cent, higher at $1.005 this morning.
So this means, after taking a really close look at the company TPG decided that they weren’t interested in pursuing what many felt was a low ball offer. Guess it’s time for Launa Inman to get to work with new board chairman Dr. Ian Pollard and turn the slogging Billabong ship around and point it toward the channel before it gets washed up on the rocks.
Follow the jump for the official Billabong press release. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 10, 2012
Last Friday (October 5, 2012) the Association of Surfing Professionals sent out a press release (along with the above pretty picture) saying they had “entered into a Term Sheet with ZoSea Media. . . designed to enhance the organizational structure of the sport as well as the direction of professional surfing in the coming years.”
That’s pretty much all the detail we got other than the names of the guys behind ZoSea Media. They are Terry Hardy (right, most well known for being Kelly Slater’s agent) and Paul Speaker the former President of Time Inc. Studios and current Quiksilver board of directors member.
According to his bio on PTTOW! site (an invite-only youth marketing summit he co-founded) Hardy is “a pioneer in youth lifestyle & media [who] has been fortunate to work with the industries leading talent and brands including Kelly Slater, Bam Margera, Tony Hawk, Quiksilver, Roxy, MTV, Sirius/XM, GoPro, Pepsi, Fox, and ESPN.” No one will forget he is also the one who spearheaded the last run at the ASP with his rebel Slater Tour back in 2009.
Paul Speaker (right), on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have much experience in action sports, but his entertainment resume is certainly colorful. Aside from his time at the National Football League in 1995 (where he was “director of marketing and ideas”) he seems to have a knack for showing up just as things are about to fall apart. He arrived at indy film production company The Shooting Gallery in 1998 and left shortly before the Shooting Gallery shut down “without warning” in 2001, according to a story in The Village Voice, for what they described as “several factors, from the slowing economy to the grandiose ambitions of head entrepreneurs Meistrich and his high school friend, Chief Financial Officer Steve Carlis.” Speaker, however, was not mentioned in the Voice story. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 9, 2012
While telling the world that the TPG deal is not “guaranteed” Billabong has also board membered up by adding in Dr. Ian Pollard to the position of director and chairman elect of its board.
Dr Pollard will join the Board as Chairman Elect and interim Chair of the Audit Committee on Wednesday, 24 October 2012 following the company’s Annual General Meeting. . . Dr Pollard is an actuary, Rhodes Scholar and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has held a wide range of senior business roles including as Chairman of Just Group Limited and of Corporate Express Australia Limited and as a Director of OPSM Group Limited and DCA Group Limited, which he founded. . . He is currently Chairman of RGA Reinsurance Company of Australia Limited, a director of Milton Corporation Limited and of SCA Property Group and an executive coach with Foresight’s Global Coaching.
Sounds like a pretty bright guy and bright guys are good to have on the board. Follow the jump for the official word from Billabong.
[Update October 10, 2012: Turns out Pollard will only take the board chairman position if the TPG deal falls through, according to a story in The Australian. Guess that makes sense.] [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 4, 2012
Thanks to a media report in The Australian Financial Review claiming that private investment firm TPG was about ready to pull out of its purchase of Billabong, shared slid so low that trading had to be stopped on Thursday, October 4, 2012, according to a story on ABC News.
TPG has refused to comment on a media report claiming it is considering pulling out of its $700 million dollar takeover bid. . . Billabong shares slumped more than 18 per cent to $1.075 before the company requested and was granted a trading halt by the ASX due to the market speculation.
AFR now says that TPG is still in the game however, they are looking very closely in several areas.
Concerns about Billabong’s earnings forecasts and the strength of its core brand have prompted private equity suitor TPG to express serious doubts about its $695 million approach. . . The Australian Financial Review revealed online yesterday that TPG was considering walking away from the long-running pursuit of the surf and board sports company.
Follow the jump to read Billabong’s official response to the AFR story. There has to be light at the end of the tunnel somewhere. Sadly, it’s not in view yet.
[Link: Australian Financial Review via ABC News] [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 3, 2012
Former Billabong CEO Matthew Perrin is now being charged with “defrauding the Commonwealth Bank of $13.5 million,” according to a story in The Australian.
The charges relate to Mr Perrin allegedly forging the signature of his former wife, Nicole Bricknell, on documents where he used the value of a house he and his then wife owned jointly at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast to obtain a loan of $13.5m from the Commonwealth Bank in 2008. . . Mr Perrin, 40, filed for bankruptcy in March 2009 with debts of $28.2m to 20 unsecured creditors, but he had previously spent four years on the BRW Rich List with his wife, recording a peak value of $151m in 2002 when he was 30.
Perrin is out on bail, however, he has apparently had his passport confiscated.
[Link: The Australian]
by The Editors on September 28, 2012
The Australian has a great Fred Pawle overview of all the dire news that’s been clogging the surf blogs lately, describing what could make September 2012 the worst month even in surf business ever.
The turbulence began on September 17, when news leaked that Rip Curl, the iconic multinational surf company founded in Torquay in 1969 and still mostly owned by surf buddies Brian Singer and Doug Warbrick, had been quietly placed on the market. Their subsequent press release gave only vague reasons for the sale. Requests from Inquirer for an interview were declined. . . Three days later, in a reflection of the business world’s appetite for equity in surf labels, one of two offers from venture capitalists for Billabong, the Gold Coast multinational struggling to pay off hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, was withdrawn. The other, from TPG, is half the value of a previous offer made earlier this year. . . On the same day, New York law firm Levi & Korsinsky announced it was investigating “compensation to certain executives” at Quiksilver, another Australian-born surf label, now listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Turns out that even though Quik’s loss increased from $9.68 million in 2010 to $21 million in 2011, CEO Bob McKnight’s salary increased from $2.91 million to over $10.2 million. We wouldn’t mind a 300% pay increase year over year, would you? Click the link for the rest.
[Link: The Australian]
by The Editors on September 25, 2012
This is hardly worth mentioning, but (big surprise) Nike has reportedly gotten everything it can out of both the US Open of Surfing and the City of Huntington Beach, California and is kicking their whole sponsorship deal to the curb, according to an interview on a Shopping Eating and Surfing blog.
As one would expect Nike’s Global Action Sports VP Sandy Bodecker believes Nike did so much for the event, the sport, and the entire world of action sports that the company (and all its brands) can now move on to other venues and spread their all-knowing amazingness.
Connecting with millions of fans in the heart of the action sports community was amazing experience for both brands,” Bodecker said. “Working with IMG and the City of Huntington Beach allowed for the elevation of the US Open of Surfing to positively impact a broader audience and introduce them to the power and excitement of sport. . . In putting on an event with such large exposure, we pushed our teams to find an authentic connection to stay true to the core of the sport and lifestyle. . . The biggest challenge ahead for the US Open is to bring the energy from Huntington Beach to even more fans across the world.
In the Orange County Register, Nike apologist Evan Slater (Hurley PR) said Nike did what it came to do in terms of elevating the contest and attracting more top surfers.
“But we also strive to constantly innovate and evolve. For us, we’ve decided to export what we created at the U.S. Open and invest it into other aspects of our business, like a renewed athlete focus and new and exciting ways of connecting with millions of kids.”
As we’ve said before, Nike’s only interest in action sports is that they occasionally believe our sports will help them sell more branded product to more people. When that stops working they’ll move on to something else.
[Link: Shop Eat Surf and OC Register]
Surfline decided to go straight to Triple Crown of Surfing founder Randy Rarick to get his perspective on what the ASP/ZoSea Media deal means to surfers, contests, and surfing in general. It would be difficult to find a wiser, more generous, experienced person in surfing to discuss this. It was interesting to see how optimistic Rarick was about it. Here’s just one of his answers:
