But who needs empathy? Only the lazy/untalented/communists!
I was talking to my dad this morning, he’s up in NorCal doing whatever it is people do up there. Look at otters, marvel at the solitary lunatic who’s always, inexplicably, trying to surf freezing cold onshore terribleness.
Towards the end of our conversation his phones started cutting in and out, I barely understood a garbled OC Weekly and Quiksilver before he was disconnected.
Enough to Google, turns out that the OC Weekly posted an interesting article on the rise and fall of Quiksilver titled How Quiksilver Lost its Soul and Ended Up in Bankruptcy Court
The Quiksilver machine hummed noiselessly and made handsome profits for McKnight and others—he cracked $1 million in base salary in 2007, two years after McKnight had engineered a $560 million acquisition of ski brand Rossignol and a part share in Cleveland Golf in an effort to branch out. By then, Quiksilver was producing movies, TV shows and books. The company was flying Slater to remote breaks using branded seaplanes. Corporate parties got more and more lavish, and McKnight became a staple of Orange County’s society pages. But the execs didn’t let much profits trickle down. Of several dozen posts at glassdoor.com, an online discussion site for workers, almost all employees complained about Quiksilver’s crappy pay. “One of the most hostile environments I’ve ever experienced,” a former design professional wrote in 2013. “Empathy doesn’t exist.”
It’s an interesting read, certainly worth your click, with a gorgeous amount of dirt you won’t find in the surf media.
Reported this morning: Oaktree considering taking Quiksilver fully private, trading off for their rescue package. i.e. They’d be getting the Quiksilver, Roxy and DC trademarks in return for roughly $600 million in retired debt.
Think perhaps that would be the best deal since Rossignol sold itself to Quiksilver for $600m then bought itself back for $40m.
they sponsor 90% of the best surfers these days…that’s how their shit sells.
I seem to be the only individual on earth with the conspiracy theory that Quik ‘facilitated’ the judges at Pipe in 2013 to gift MF the world title to avoid paying KS a $12M bonus.
let’s be honestly here – 80% of industry workers don’t have the qualifications to be paid well. How much is a former B-list pro with no education really worth?
check with strider,got a feeling he’s the expert on that one.
Corporate America acting like corporate America, how dare they.
Greedy greedy bossmen… They actually would deserve to die the slow and painful death they inflicted to their company. A bit harsh I know but hey…
Taking a company that markets itself as grassroots to public markets?
Consequently buying Rossignol to artificially inflate the company’s portfolio and stock value just so a few assholes up wall street can make it to the next prostitute quality bracket?
Spreading distribution (aka the company’s legs), and who(r/l)esaling your sport and community’s soul so they can personally cash in, while employees are bullied into sacrificing their private lives, squeezing the supply chain so tight it should be considered a crime?
FUCK THEM GREEDY BOSSMEN!
Sorry for the rant, I’m on a severe case of manstruation. I’ll be watching Fight Club and drink a lot this weekend. Peace brothers.
Team Management is way down the list of things done wrong by Quik. Reading that article helps figuring out why so many athletes are sometimes reluctant to promote their brands. In regards to fashion and trends: completely agree, the surfing industry blamed economical crisis for years to justify their downfall, while their product strategies never truly evolved the right way.
you are writing this as if you are not surprised..
True – but none of em capitalised on the net. Guess you right though shit stuff wont sell anywhere!! They could have tried to throw in a pair of rossi skis with every boardshort sold though – that would have been genius.
Yeah agree and you know where all the brands were fucked – they let a site like Surfstitch sell online before any of them did!!! Not one of them got with the online program before was too late really.
how is surfstitch going?
busy little elves running about in a giant warehouse somehwere yelling – order 3486576957769 needs to go stat or they’re aint no break for you nimble fingers.
Yeah just thought funny that Billabong bought them out then they bought it back – for a net loss for Billabong!! Was a good one that one. Showed not much clue from bong on that deal.
i never got good clues from bong. all i got was paranoia.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
you work at surfstitch?
Read ‘Salts and Suits’ by Phil Jarratt for the whole sordid tale.