Black Diamond gets SOLD!

[Nitrox]

http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/journal/news/company/birth-of-black-diamond-20

 

Dear Black Diamond Employees, Friends and Colleagues:

 

This is a milestone day for Black Diamond. When we founded this company, we wanted to build great products to maximize the enjoyment and safety of the sports we love so much. More, we wanted to build a company that reflected, respected, and championed our lifestyle and values as climbers & off-piste skiers. Though you never arrive at your destination, we are proud of what we have accomplished and the style in which that has been achieved. Together, we have built a truly special, global company and I would like to take this moment to express my most heartfelt thanks all of the employees, friends, customers, vendors, and consumers that have helped us along the way.

 

Authenticity is a word that gets thrown around a lot. For it to actually mean something, which it does at Black Diamond, we live and breathe the sports we represent and reflect that in our business practices. We approach business like we do climbing. As you can appreciate, there is precious little room for error in either. When we climb, we learn to make careful choices, act as a team, proceed purposefully, realistically assess risk, and ensure that we are protected against it. At the same time, we know how to maintain focus and, when necessary, to act decisively and aggressively to make progress. We constantly adapt to the route in front of us. That we approach our business the same way is no accident.

 

Today, we have a new route and new summit to tackle. I am incredibly pleased to announce that Black Diamond is entering into a transaction with Clarus Corporation that will simultaneously make us a public company and merge the operations of Gregory Mountain Products with Black Diamond. Gregory is a great brand and business that I’m sure you are also familiar with. The rest of the executive team at Black Diamond and I will continue our roles, but with the added challenge and responsibility of growing the business as a public company. For nearly 30 years I have led the growth of this company and it’s predecessor from a sub $1million/year business to one that continues to grow at a double digit rate, surpassed $92million in annual revenue in the past 12 months, and has double digit growth in Fall’10 bookings. Over those nearly 30 years the mantra has been to build a beautiful and respected “built to last company”. As of 2010 we have achieved nearly every component of that approach other than the capital structure and the backstop for management, especially myself. With this deal, the last pieces of that global, built to last, foundation are being put into place. We are all really excited for that.

 

Clarus Corporation is a public company with no operations but strong financial resources. They have been searching for a long time for the right business to help build and we feel most fortunate to have connected with one another. After the deal closes, which should be sometime in June, Clarus expects to change its name to Black Diamond Equipment. The managers of Clarus and owners of Gregory, Warren Kanders and Rob Schiller, will provide us with guidance and financial support. Their track record is outstanding. Most recently, they built and operated Armor Holdings, a company that designed and built a wide variety of personal protection and safety equipment.

 

What is not changing? Our commitment to our mission vision and values, and our efforts to help write the stories of the sports and the communities which inspire us. This shared passion is the universal Esperanto that connects us with fellow climbers & skiers no matter where we are. We view this new route in front of us as not only a method to growth, but as a collaborative effort through which we will strengthen and expand the way we do business and our community of fellow users.

 

For those of you who have been around awhile this is not the first time we have stood in front of you and spoken about big change. In November 1989 we spoke about our vision for a future together and a business model driven by the ethos of our sports, lifestyles and culture. We would like to believe that the last few decades have validated that vision and our commitment to it. Looking forward at yet another clean undone line, BD remains more committed then ever to that vision. We understand that the future will be the only arbitrator and that talk at this point is just that, talk. You should have been here yesterday is now you NEED to be here tomorrow. Let the future be our judge.

 

— Peter Metcalf

CEO/ President & Co-Founder

[G-spotter]

that's only about the 4th time someone posted that today

[Nitrox]

Not in this section.

 

 

[jon]

Dru I haven't watched Dragons Den recently was this a good deal? Would Kevin have put his soldiers in play?

[G-spotter]

I think they'd need DMM on board with those Dragon Cams for that

[Zoran]

On other forum this was posted:

http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2333080

 

P.S.

This member, sosure is really sharp in his/ or her? comments. Remind me of our Dru a little. When he is inspired.

:-)

[Jake_Gano]

On other forum this was posted:

http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2333080

 

P.S.

This member, sosure is really sharp in his/ or her? comments. Remind me of our Dru a little. When he is inspired.

:-)

 

Why I love RC.com:

 

"kachoong wrote:

Word on the street is that all the C4 colors are about to change.

 

Heh! Perhaps all different shades of green.

 

They could also stamp a different president on each size. Washington on the 0.3, Franklin on the 0.4 etc... "

 

See how many more pages it goes before anyone points out what job Franklin didn't have.

 

 

 

[Nitrox]

Lots of buzzwords going on in that thread.

[111]

so is BD getting sold a good thing or bad thing for the sport? time will tell of course, but I am jsut curious what everyone's take is? Seems like reporting to a arge number of $$$ concerned shareholders will cheapen the quality of the product to a degree in order to get the shareholders more $.

[JosephH]

It's been sold to a small group of guys who have complete control over the 'shareholders' - what William Kanders wants, he will get...

[billcoe]

My thoughts are that with Peter Metcalf and some of the old climber gang on board, it's good -samesame. He's a good guy and has a solid background in what the corp. goals are. However, so many times with larger corporations and new blood we see that he'll get kicked out/forced out/sick of the new bullshit/resign in 3-4 years and then all bets are off.

 

See, they currently look kick assed profitable, which sucked in these new guys, as BD has been moving production to China. However, THIS year (you just read it here) when China starts getting serious about devaluing the Yuan vis a vis the buck/Chuck, the dollar/Yaun thing will reduce some of those huge profits seen that sucked in these corporate raiders. The CR's, not knowing that a Carabiner is any different than a cock ring or other commodity, will be sending nastygrams and Excel spreadsheets behind the scenes to the effect of

 

New markets will be evaluated, new products, etc etc. Spreadsheets will say to put more $ in R and D, however, the money in r and d will be eyed by the top guys as wasted and POOF, moments after the R and D money cut then is stuffed into Kandors pocket, Metcalf looks up and sees some strange writing on the wall - grabs a bag of cash and splits.

 

Everyone working for him, the climber types, see this strange writing on the wall - grab whats left and hit the door as well. The new guys/replacements will see you as a "profit center", and in the end find some way to alienate you big time. Sales of gear decline, while sales of clothing increase and a sale to a new victim corporation is looked at.....you end up with a company that looks like Eddie Bauer or the North Face, who are trying to bring back the "kick assed" thing they use to be, and not the weaksauce suburban thing they have become as profits in the Patagonia/Eddie Bauer/North Face "pleasedontsueme" space increase....

So in the end, you'll be getting the new "hyperwear" "fantastic" "sweat shredding" underpants that even the astronauts ill want to wear from Black Diamond, but not gear. Or much of it anyway. This is a 4-8 year timeline thing I'd suspect. It's all guessing here.

 

 

OK, so yes, I've been drinking...but it's friday afternoon damnit! So I'll pitch a holier than thou message. My BD Camalots were made in the US. My Metolius 4cams, tcus, offset TCUs and Mastercam Cams were made in the US. My regular and hybrid Aliens and my Wire Bliss 4cams were made in the US.

What does that tell you? Yes, I spend way too much money on gear. Bingo. That is all. Time to polish off the wine.

 

"Real" climbers? WTF - who the hell.....

 

[BirdDog]

My thoughts are that with Peter Metcalf and some of the old climber gang on board, it's good -samesame. He's a good guy and has a solid background in what the corp. goals are. However, he'll get kicked out/forced out/sick of the new bullshit/resign in 3-4 years and then all bets are off.

 

See, they looked kick assed profitable, which sucked in these new guys, as they've been moving production to China. However, THIS year (you just read it here) when China starts devaluing the Yuan vis a vis the buck/Chuck, the dollar/Yaun thing will reduce some of those huge profits seen that sucked in these corporate raiders. The CR's, not knowing that a Carabiner is any different than a cock ring or other commodity, will be sending nastygrams and Excel spreadsheets behind the scenes to the effect of

 

New markets will be evaluated, new products, etc etc. Spreadsheets will say to put more $ in R and D, however, the money in r and d will be eyed by the top guys as wasted and POOF, moments after the R and D money cut then is stuffed into Kandors pocket, Metcalf looks up and sees some strange writing on the wall - grabs a bag of cash and splits.

 

Everyone working for him, the climber types, grab whats left and hit the door as well. The new guys see you as a "profit center", and in the end alienate you big time. Sales of gear decline, while sales of clothing increase and a sale to a new victim corporation is looked at.....you end up with a company that looks like Eddie Bauer or the North Face, who are trying to bring back the "kick assed" thing they use to be, and not the weaksauce suburban thing they have become as profits in the Patagonia/Eddie Bauer/North Face "pleasedontsueme" space increase....

So in the end, you're getting the new "hyperwear" "fantastic" underpants from Black Diamond, but not gear.

 

 

OK, so yes, I've been drinking...but it's friday afternoon damnit! So I'll pitch a holier than thou message. My BD Camalots were made in the US. My Metolius 4cams, tcus, offset TCUs and Mastercam Cams were made in the US. My regular and hybrid Aliens and my Wire Bliss 4cams were made in the US.

What does that tell you? Yes, I spend way too much money on gear. Bingo.

 

That is all. Time to polish off the wine.

 

"Real" climbers? WTF who the hell.....

 

+1 Exactly - couldn't have said it better.

 

You ought write for Fortune or Business Week

[Mtguide]

It's a ways down the road yet, but watch for another big round of wrongful death lawsuits and recalls of Chinese-made BD climbing gear in years to come. After all, they have to find somewhere to use up all those warehouses full of lead, mercury, and melamine.

Not that prices will decline or remain anywhere close to what they are now. Expect to pay $3000-$4000.00 for a set of crappy cams, $25.00 wiregate biners, etc. Sign up for the friendly gear leasing plan; just don't leave any of that stuff behind on rappel anchors or you'll have to go back up and get it...

[Nitrox]

 

That is all. Time to polish off the wine.

 

"Real" climbers? WTF who the hell.....

 

Funny, I used to live down the street from BD. The beer was for shit.

 

Now I live close to Metolious. The beer is ten times better.

 

What does it mean? Wine is gay and the market will bear competition. BD will continue to perform or it won't...I won't skip a beat.

[johndavidjr]

Perhaps they will put more emphasis on clothing. I understand profit margins on "softgoods" (tee-shirts, etc) is much greater than "hardgoods."

 

They paid $90 million for BD; $45m for Gregory.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/913277/000114420410025809/v184082_8k.htm

 

"Clarus" appears until recently to have been a company with money but no business (a "shell company."

Its executives, in Stamford, Conn., appear to have zero background in outdoors industry. Perhaps I'm misreading something here:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/913277/000114420410013483/v176976_10k.htm

[tomtom]

It's a ways down the road yet, but watch for another big round of wrongful death lawsuits and recalls of Chinese-made BD climbing gear in years to come.

 

Umm, yeah, like climber-built cams made-in-America are all that reliable.

 

Aliens, anyone?

[johndavidjr]

Umm, yeah, like Black Diamond didn't set the only standard for quality? That era might soon be over.

 

According to the "agreement" the BD chief is going to make "only" a quarter-million bucks annually. This shows only that he's a big chump, and will shortly get fired (with some obscene payout) and Black Diamond will make "urban gear" for a few years before going into bankruptcy and shifting to a mailorder ("electronic commerce") tee-shirt company.

 

Perhaps the Brits will carry on somewhat, but methinks gearheads may be somewhat f**ked in future. Perhaps prison manufacturing, either US or Asian, will eventually set the new standard for climbing gear.

 

One can imagine another outcome wherein after a few years former BD executives buy back the company from the Wall Street guys at 30 cents on the dollar and take it back. This sort of thing does happen, but not usually. Especially when they're only getting a bad and ill-advised deal to begin with.

 

$90 million for BD?

[billcoe]

Wine is gay? WTF?! Well, we're all on the same page on the BD thing except that there is nothing wrong with wine or gays. Frankly, I drink beer, wine, AND US made bourbon. Whether I'm sipping with the gays or the straits, as long as the company as good, and the booze is good, then it's all good! You want to show up and drink Ujahns kick assed homebrew, or the wine I yoink out of my cooler, its all good as long as you recognize one (1) thing when you are around me. Just one!

 

Scotch SUCKS.

 

OK, 2 things, gays, with a few exceptions, are fu*ing awesome. So STFU on that.

 

Don't come over yoinking on about single malt this or that. Scotch sucks. Although scotch people, who mistakenly believe that Scotch whiskey is good, are generally fine folks.

 

What a confusing dichotomy.

[ryanb]

Wine is gay? WTF?! Well, we're all on the same page on the BD thing except that there is nothing wrong with wine or gays. Frankly, I drink beer, wine, AND US made bourbon. Whether I'm sipping with the gays or the straits, as long as the company as good, and the booze is good, then it's all good! You want to show up and drink Ujahns kick assed homebrew, or the wine I yoink out of my cooler, its all good as long as you recognize one (1) thing when you are around me. Just one!

 

Scotch SUCKS.

 

OK, 2 things, gays, with a few exceptions, are fu*ing awesome. So STFU on that.

 

Don't come over yoinking on about single malt this or that. Scotch sucks. Although scotch people, who mistakenly believe that Scotch whiskey is good, are generally fine folks.

 

What a confusing dichotomy.

 

This is awesome.

[Hugh Conway]

It's a ways down the road yet, but watch for another big round of wrongful death lawsuits and recalls of Chinese-made BD climbing gear in years to come.

 

Umm, yeah, like climber-built cams made-in-America are all that reliable.

 

Aliens, anyone?

 

The Gregory owners/Clarus execs were charged, and paid fines, for knowingly selling defective body armour to the US military. That's worse than Aliens.

[zeroforhire]

^

 

saw that too... seems interesting. glad I already have my trad rack all squared away.

[johndavidjr]

Yeah, here's news on the $30m fine they paid three years ago for selling "bullet-proof" vests that they knew were bogus.

 

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2008/October/08-civ-901.html

 

Astonishing background, really, for a climbing gear manufacturer.

[Crillz]

Best get me a #6 cam right away.

[Nitrox]

Wine is gay? WTF?! Well, we're all on the same page on the BD thing except that there is nothing wrong with wine or gays. Frankly, I drink beer, wine, AND US made bourbon. Whether I'm sipping with the gays or the straits, as long as the company as good, and the booze is good, then it's all good! You want to show up and drink Ujahns kick assed homebrew, or the wine I yoink out of my cooler, its all good as long as you recognize one (1) thing when you are around me. Just one!

 

Scotch SUCKS.

 

OK, 2 things, gays, with a few exceptions, are fu*ing awesome. So STFU on that.

 

Don't come over yoinking on about single malt this or that. Scotch sucks. Although scotch people, who mistakenly believe that Scotch whiskey is good, are generally fine folks.

 

What a confusing dichotomy.

 

 

 

[rocketparrotlet]

Perhaps all the cam colors will be changed to different shades of red, with sizes being told apart mainly by the presence of either a star, a hammer, or a sickle.

 

OK OK I'm just trolling now...