by The Editors on September 22, 2008
Unfortunately, we were unable to make it over to the continent for the Quiksilver Pro France to see if Kelly can tie up number nine, but apparently Tony Hawk was because on Saturday night close to 10,000 people “packed the beach town’s main square” for a little demo from the Birdman.
People were packed onto rooftops, into alleyways on top of shoulders and anywhere they could find to see the world’s most legendary skater and an all star crew including Andy McDonald, Sergie Ventura and Kevin Staab, put on a show on the massive half pipe. It was utter chaos and mayhem but everyone loved.
And from the pictures, we’d have to believe it.
[Link: The Mountain And Wave]
by The Editors on September 19, 2008
Globe International Limited released their 2008 annual report today. And while the document contains loads of interesting information (like the fact that the company suffered a $24.6 million net loss in fiscal 2007/2008) we dove straight to the “Key Management Personnel And Top 5 Remunerated Executives” section (page 34), because we love knowing how well our friends are doing.
Here is the breakdown of salaries plus cash bonuses:
Matthew Hill $948,222
Chief Executive Officer
Matthew Wong $554,490
President – Europe
Gary Valentine $433,271
President – North America
Marc McKee $421,263
Graphic Designer
Bod Boyle $381,507
President – Dwindle
John Sherwood $344,879
Vice President – North American Sales
Steve Douglas $233,129
President – Australia
Jessica Hogan $213,129
Chief Financial Officer
Gerhard Correa $154,700
Company Secretary
And this “salary transparency” is just one of the reasons that it sucks to work for a publicly traded company. Though, it obviously doesn’t suck that much for many on this list.
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
by The Editors on September 19, 2008
Christian Moothart, the 17 year old who was driving the car that Joseph Madison was skateboarding behind when he died, has been sentenced to 60 hours of community service on reckless endangerment charges.
. . . 16-year-old Joseph Madison (pictured) was “skitching,” hanging onto the car on his skateboard. The car driven by Moothart hit a dip in the road when Madison lost his grip, fell and hit his head on the pavement. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
It sad on all side, but we’re glad Moothart didn’t have to go to jail.
[Link: NWCN.com]
by The Editors on September 18, 2008
This show at LA’s Crewest Gallery on October 4, 2008 (opening 2:00 PM to 9:30 PM) is something we’re actually excited about. Then again, the Dogtown cross we hand-markered on the wall of our childhood is still there so we’re obviously partial to the work of Craig Stecyk, Skip Engblom, et. al.
The invite only opening party is the night before (October 3, 2008 at 7 PM).
[Link: The Label Lab]
by The Editors on September 15, 2008
Portfolio.com checked in with T. Hawk and he says he’s not afraid to “get his hands dirty.”
Tony Hawk is rich and chief executive of his own company, but that doesn’t mean he’s changed all that much from the skateboarding kid with a junk food diet. In fact, it’s something he says makes him a better C.E.O.
[Link: Portfolio.com]
by The Editors on September 15, 2008
Analysts at Piper Jaffray & Co. downgraded Zumiez today saying that the companies shares have “surpassed our target objective” and are “trading essentially in line with the long-term earnings growth rate” and they’re giving Zumez a “neutral.”
We expect shares to trade in range into the 1H of 2009 and would recommend adding to positions on sector pullbacks – longer-term, ZUMZ offers a superior investment profile. Our 2-3 year outlook remains positive, tied to square footage growth, solid category trends, and the company’s ability to orient its merchandise to evolutions in lifestyle cycles. We’ve re-set our 12-month price target to $18/share based on 20x FTME EPS (FQ4-FQ3), in line with the company’s LT earnings growth rate.
Sure, fine.
[Link: Street Insider]
by The Editors on September 15, 2008
We wrote about Gil Le Bon De Lapointe and Pierre Andre Senizergues’ Skate Study House back in February, but the mid-century modern skate project has finally made it to the LA Times.
I’m the artist, and he has the money to do it,” De Lapointe says. “Pierre gives me inspiration, he pushes me to find ideas and concepts, new ways to use the skateboard. The skateboard has given him all his success, so he wants to give that back.”
Seems the Home & Garden section just can’t get enough of Pierre Andre lately.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on September 15, 2008
As we overhead someone say last week, “Ol’ Naude has had a pretty good year.” And we would agree. According to a report in Australia’s The Age Billabong’s Paul Naude unloaded a few shares last week:
Last Monday he sold 250,000 shares at AUS$13.35 each. The AUS$3.3 million was the most he had raised from share sales for quite a while. . . . Last year he disposed of 100,000 at AUS$15.52 a share, while going right back into history — March 2006 — he raised AUS$2 million when he flogged 125,000 shares at AUS$16.06 a share.
Taking a little money off the table probably isn’t a bad idea right now.
[Link: The Age]
by The Editors on September 10, 2008
Pierre Andre Senizergues, 45, is an interesting guy even for skateboarding. He is the sole owner of Sole Technology. That means when Sole Tech makes a dollor, it’s Pierre’s. He also owns most of the buildings that Sol Tech inhabits. He has an amazing yacht, what has been described as a “$25 million house in Malibu,” and a “waterfront” place in Newport Beach. Plus, he is single.
Now, Pierre has let the Los Angeles Times Home & Garden section do a profile on the Newport Beach house so those of us who haven’t been over for drinks (ever) can see what the place looks like. It doesn’t look to shabby, actually. Not that we were surprised. He was also nice enough to pass on little nuggets like this in the captions:
“To do something new, that nobody else has, you can’t be afraid to fall,” says Senizergues, here in his meditation room.
Right.
[Link: Los Angeles Times]
by The Editors on September 9, 2008
Today, Vital Media Network President Brad McDonald announced that while their BMX and MX sites are doing well, they have decided to put their skateboarding site on ice saying:
We’re putting Vital Skate on indefinite hiatus. After two years, we just couldn’t get the traffic and advertising where it needed to be. To everyone who supported the site – thanks!
While McDonald and Todd Toth’s roots in BMX (along with the edit and photo skills of Mark Losey) helped take Vital BMX to the top in traffic, the group never did get traction in the skateboarding market. As we know, that industry is pretty tight about who it supports and does not support. Apparently, they were not backing Vital.
[Link: Vital Media Network]
