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]
by The Editors on September 24, 2012
Turns out Bain Capital, the company co-founded by US Presidential bumbler Mitt Romney, is not interested in purchasing Billabong, according to a story last week in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Billabong said today the second party to make a takeover offer had now withdrawn from the formal process. . . The company’s shares slumped as much as 6.9 per cent after coming out of a trading halt this morning and were recently trading at $1.335, down 11 cents, or 7.6 per cent, well below the value of the offers.
But the most interesting comment cam from IG Markets analyst Cameron Peacock.
‘‘They are a struggling retailer,’’ he said. ‘‘As a shareholder the only reason you would have been comfortable holding this stock was because it was under takeover offer. ‘‘I’m surprised it is only down seven per cent.’’
Maybe Billabong should swap out their “Life’s Better In Boardshorts” tagline for a new one: “We’re A Struggling Retailer.”
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
by The Editors on September 19, 2012
Andrew Warren, a post-doctoral researcher in economic geography at the University of Wollongong and Chris Gibson, a professor of Human Geography at the UofW are apparently writing a book on the surf industry. When the news came out Ripcurl is hoping to join the sell-out crew, the to academics decided it was the perfect time to promote their new book, Surfing Places, Surfboard Makers: Craft, Creativity and Cultural Heritage in Hawai’i, California and Australia (University of Hawai’i Press), with a web post titled, All washed up: have surf megabrands forgotten their roots? on The Conversation blog.
In the book, Warren and Gibson postulate that there is much more to this than a fashion disaster.
In our new book on the surf industry, to be published next year by University of Hawaii Press, we make the point that, like music, it is a subcultural industry defined by a tension between “major” corporate labels and smaller “independents”. Independent labels have more credibility because they are considered closer to the grassroots of surfing culture. They are often based in specific surf cities and regions – southern California, the Gold Coast, north shore O’ahu – where surf subcultures are strong. . . When brands grow and expand, they take on the character of corporate enterprises.
Nothing we haven’t heard before, but it’s always interesting to read an intelligent discussion of the coming end of surf fashion. Click the link for the rest.
[Link: The Conversation]
by The Editors on September 19, 2012
The world’s largest snowboard company (Burton, duh) has partnered with the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. owned Pottery Barn Teen on an “an exclusive home collection” according to a story on Pymnts.com.
The new collection will be available through the PBteen catalog, e-commerce site PBteen.com and at the six PBteen stores beginning this September through the 2012 holiday season. . . The new Burton home collection includes bedding, lighting, lounge seating, wall décor and accessories for tweens and teens. The collection features patterns and prints inspired from Burton’s popular apparel line. Some highlights include: a quilt which is comprised of 12 t-shirt logos from Burton’s current and past seasons, as well as a duvet cover modeled after a Burton snowboard jacket with authentic details like zippers and pockets. The Burton home collection also includes wall murals featuring images of Burton Team Riders: Danny Davis, Gabi Viteri, Hannah Teter, Jussi Oksanen, and Nicolas Muller.
This stuff actually looks really good. If Pottery Barn is going to do snowboarding, they might as well do it right. Same for Burton.
[Link: PBTeen via Pymnts.com]
by The Editors on September 17, 2012
Well, there goes the surf clothing industry. Rip Curl Group Pty. is now reportedly looking for someone who will trade them A$500 million for the brand, according to a story on Bloomberg Businessweek.
The closely held Australian company has hired Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit and is seeking about 10 times its projected A$48 million 2013 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, the person said, asking not to be identified before a public announcement by Rip Curl. Merrill Lynch is assessing “unsolicited approaches” for the company, Rip Curl said in a statement today.
Sound great. It’s such a sellers market in the surf fashion industry right now.
[Link: Bloomberg Businessweek]
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.
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…]
