Mystery surrounds “razor-sharp surf magnate” Bob Hurley post slamming direction of his eponymous brand as it’s quickly disappeared from internet!

“Bruh”

It’s hard to imagine, now, the ruckus, disbelief, horror even, when Billabong’s US licensee, surfboard shaper Bob Hurley, handed back what had become a license to print money in 1998 and to strike out on his own. 

You gonna hand back the keys to Billabong? You gonna call it, what? Hurley? 

Under Bob’s expert hand, and helped by taking the designers, surfers and marketeers, and product patents he’d developed for Billabong, Hurley quickly grew into one of the biggest, and most respected surf brands in the world.

Three years later, “razor-sharp surf magnate” Bob sold to Nike for a hundred and twenty mill.

Bob was always around, howevs, the company had his name on it after all, and he took over as CEO for three years, 2012 to 2015, the glory years of the Nike-ownership era some might say. 

Four years later, Nike sold Hurley to Bluestar Alliance, a “brand management company”. The way Bluestar works is it identifies brands it wants to buy and once they get the keys, “our team of experts embark on a complete and thorough understanding of the brand’s potential channels of distribution and price point strategies. We create tools such as brand development profiles, trend guides, style guides and marketing strategies. These marketing materials portray graphic illustrations and a strategic marketing road map to enhance consumer brand recognition.”

The focus at Hurley shifted from R and D, maintaining a dazzling surf team, high-end accounts and so on to a model focussed on the bottom line, with multiple teamrider contracts quickly terminated. 

Soon, there were inflatable toy toys, beard oil, hair product, performance bodyboards, beach chairs. 

And, today, before it was quickly deleted from view, sixty-eight-year-old, Newfoundland-born Hurley, who now heads Florence Marine X, ran a couple of shots of Hurley’s “performance” bodyboards and a rack of beach chairs with the withering comment, 

“Bruh.” 

Many comments ensued before the provocative post was disappeared. 

Obviously, comment has been sought, crickets thus far although it’s only been eleven minutes, but what’s your immediate reaction? Do you think Bob thought it was a little rough on Bluestar? A little weird to dunk on his own brand?