by The Editors on March 19, 2012
DC Shoes is sponsoring Rob Dyrdek’s Street League Skateboarding series again. And why shouldn’t they, really. They’re in so deep with Dyrdek there would be no reason to stop now.
“There’s nothing better than Street League Skateboarding and we are really excited to sponsor the series again this year,” said DC President, Anton Nistl. “For DC it’s been a strategic and significant partnership over the years, and Street League really aligns with DC’s ‘vision’ of being the most sought after skate-driven action sports brand in the world.”
See, that’s how deep they are. Follow the jump for the official word (including tour dates). [click to continue…]
by The Editors on March 15, 2012
London’s “pop-up” mall BOXPARK in Shoreditch now has a Volcom “box” in the mix.
“We believe that branded retail stores are a very effective way for Volcom to promote its full range of products, athletes and brand image,” said Gaetan Le Guennec, Volcom’s European Retail Director. “Our Volcom stores regularly host events with athletes, Volcom featured artists and musicians, attracting a wide range of customers and exposing them to the Volcom lifestyle. The design and layout of the stores, which include an assortment of our apparel, art presentations, a music listening station with Volcom Entertainment titles and a Veeco Production section with all of our film titles, exemplifies our philosophy of change and our relationship with youth culture.”
This is Volcom’s third store in the UK. For the official word follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on March 15, 2012
Bearded photographer Mark Welsh has joined Billabong’s luggage brand Dakine as the new snow team manager.
“We’re excited to have Welsh onboard,” said Mike Madlener, Dakine’s Creative Director. “He brings a clear understanding of our industry, the needs of our team, and our business.”
Welsh appears to be happy about the new gig as well.
“Signing on with DAKINE means working with one of the strongest and most talented teams in the industry; and I will have the privilege of working with some of my closest friends! I have immense respect for the quality and construction of DAKINE products so I’m really looking forward to this new venture on all levels,” said Welsh about his new role.
Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on March 15, 2012
It’s been two months since the official launch of Youtube’s new “channel strategy.” As it hasn’t changed our viewing habits, nor improved our Youtube experience in any way we were curious to see how the channels were doing. Using the numbers reported on the channels main pages we lined them all up.
Just for fun, we threw Transworld.TV in the mix just to see how a site that didn’t get $1 million dollars of start up capital was faring against the Google funded players. We also factored in the potential total revenue (shared between Youtube and the channel) generated by the channels views based on the oft quoted “quality content” CPM of $20.
Here’s how they stack up:
Subs Views Revenue
Redbull Media House 386,626 259,389,937 $5,187,798
Alli Sports 28,240 10,134,195 $202,683
Transworld TV 10,526 5,470,641 $109,412
Ride Channel 32,329 4,164,433 $83,288
Network A 28,320 1,951,528 $39,030
*Note: this is not a scientific comparison and should be used for
entertainment purposes only for all kinds of reasons including the
fact that some channels have been up much longer than others.
There is money in this game, but it seems that few of the channels (aside from Redbull) have created anything that has “gone viral.” And when you compare these channels to something like the Philip Defranco Show which has 2 million subscribers and 825 million views so far it suggests that sitting someone in front of a camera in a studio with some clever writing is a much more efficient use of funding than sending a production team around the world chasing board riders. But don’t let that stop you, you action content producers you.
by The Editors on March 13, 2012
Pacific Sunwear reported numbers today (March 13, 2012) for their fourth quarter and things are not looking good according to a story on CBS News.
Net loss for the three months ended Jan. 28 widened to $38.1 million, or 56 cents per share. That compares with a net loss of $35.2 million, or 53 cents per share. Excluding a cost for issuing convertible stock and store closing charges, net loss would have been 19 cents per share. Analysts expected a loss of 22 cents per share, according to FactSet.
For the year Pac Sun lost $106.4 million compared to $96.6 million last year. The closed 87 stores during the quarter and yet CEO Gary Schoenfeld says “sales trends improved as the holiday season progressed.” And yet they’re still buying full spread print ads in Surfer Magazine. One wonders how long this can go on. The stock was down 15.94 percent in after-hours trading.
[Link: CBS News]
by The Editors on March 9, 2012
Despite higher sales for four consecutive quarters Quiksilver still has not been able to turn a Q1 profit, according to a story on Marketwatch.com.
For the quarter ended Jan. 31, Quiksilver reported a loss of $22.6 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $16.3 million, or 10 cents a share. Excluding restructuring impacts and year-ago interest charges, the adjusted per-share loss from continuing operations widened to 13 cents from a loss of 5 cents.
The company’s stock was trading down on the news, obviously. For a transcript of the entire March 8, 2012 Quiksilver analysts call (including Bob McKnight’s take on the quarter) click here.
[Link: Marketwatch and Seeking Alpha]
by The Editors on March 5, 2012
So let’s say your brand is under pressure. Your stock is at the lowest point it’s ever been. The “sharks are circling” and a private equity firm has been low-balling offers since they noticed your were in trouble. What do you do? If you’re Billabong founder and largest shareholder, Gordon Merchant, you buy more stock, according to a story in The Australian.
In a substantial shareholders notice lodged late on Friday, Mr Merchant declared he had bought 2.52 million shares in the surf, ski and skate wear brand at an average price of $3.13 each, lifting his stake from 15.1 per cent to 15.8 per cent.
Hey, if your fortune is already down $240 million what else can you do? Billabong has to come back around right?
[Link: The Australian]
by The Editors on March 2, 2012
On January 31, 2012 a jury in Pinellas County, Florida reportedly awarded Internet Businessman Mark J. Horne a $15.5 million judgement in his lawsuit against World Publications and co-defendants Bonnier Corp. and CEO Terry Snow for breach of contract after Horne sold his company Nautical Solutions Marketing Inc. to World Publications in 2004, according to a story on Trade Only Today.
Now, Snow is pushing back on the judgement in the most creative way possible–his lawyer has filed motions for “mistrial alleging, among other things, juror misconduct and prejudicial comments by the attorney for plaintiff.”
Among the defendants’ post-trial motions, filed Feb. 10, are allegations that Horne’s attorney commented on something the judge talked about outside the presence of the jury; told the jury that Snow would be indemnified against any judgment (in other words, his insurance company would pay the damages); vouched for the credibility of witnesses; called defense witnesses liars; and instructed the jury in a theory of damages that the judge himself refused to talk about, said the defendants’ Orlando, Fla., attorney, Michael Crosbie.
According to the story it would appear that a judge has already “ruled on the juror misconduct motion Feb. 28 and denied a request for a mistrial.” For those not following along, World Publications was the company that purchased Transworld Media and then became Bonnier USA, Transworld’s parent company. Those who are at all interested in the media business should click the link and read the rest of the story.
[Link: Trade Only Today]
by The Editors on March 1, 2012
We began getting emails yesterday morning (February 29, 2012) saying that California’s Mammoth Mountain had cut a large portion of their full-time staff. Some were saying 75 full-time employees were cut after having already taken 10 percent pay cuts. Now, the details have been confirmed by Mammoth CEO Rusty Gregory in a Mike Lewis story on TransworldBusiness.com.
Twenty percent of the mountain’s full-time employees have been laid off and most of them were from senior management, admin, accounting, IT, and maintenance. Gregory blamed it on a really bad season.
“It was clear things weren’t going to change dramatically. If we can’t pay our bills, everyone loses their jobs,” says Gregory, who has been CEO since ’95. “This was one of the most heart-wrenching decisions I’ve ever made. These people are part of the community. Our kids all go to school together.” Gregory adds that while the decision was hard on him, it “was a million times harder for those that lost their jobs.”
Yeah, we bet. Luckily, the lifts are still running and there is snow. We know, we just tasted some. And who knows if things get too bad maybe Vail Resorts will swoop in and snap up another legendary California resort.
[Link: Transworld Business]
by The Editors on February 24, 2012
Deal Journal Australia interviewed Trilantic Capital Partners‘ partner Charlie Moore regarding the fund’s new investment in the Nixon brand and asked him why they would partner up with management and Billabong. Among other things Moore said this:
What we really like is that the business was founded by, and continues to be led by a entrepreneurial and dynamic duo, Andy Laats and Chad DiNenna. Andy founded the business shortly after picking up his MBA at Stanford from the ground up, partnered by Chad. They determined that the action sports sector didn’t have a watch brand clearly identified with folks clearly passionate about surfing, skating and snowboarding.
It would appear that TCP has their priorities straight, right?
[Link: Deal Journal Australia]
