The Authentic Brands Group is growing an empire in the retail industry. ShopeatSurf reports that last week, they finalized a deal to acquire Boardriders for over $1.25 billion. Their intentions to acquire Boardriders were originally announced back in April.
Boardriders is the parent company of Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, RVCA, DC Shoes, Element, VonZipper, Honolua, and Boardriders. These brands are staples in the surf and skating industries. Theses brands has a greater than 500 retail locations and online stores in 35 countries. According to Authentic’s website, its portfolio contains brands in “media, entertainment, sport, luxe, fashion, beauty and wellness, home, active and outdoor” industries. Some of the other brands that Authentic owns include Eddie Bauer, Reebok, Sports Illustrated, Spyder, and Volcom. This acquisition grows the company’s annual sales to over $29 billion.
In a press release to Fashion Network, Authentic Brands said the following about the acquisition:
“With the completion of this acquisition, Authentic’s annual retail sales now exceed $29 billion globally. Today, Authentic is rolling out its proven brand development and value creation program and will soon announce a list of top-tier partners worldwide to help the brands take the next step in their growth.”
In terms of the impacts on the companies, here’s what Joel Cooper, who is the co-owner of Lost Enterpises and the co-founder of Gotcha, told ShopEatSurf:
“It’s pretty unprecedented because of the importance of the brands that are involved. The closest that you could actually try and compare it to is Boardriders itself. Billabong and Quiksilver were the biggest companies and each competed against each other being major players in the industry. And they became Boardriders. This is completely different because (with the formation of Boardriders) the brands remained basically in the hands of people in the industry. Now we’re getting companies out of New York who are not involved in the industry. But I would just say it really and truly depends on what the marketing and distribution policy is to really see the impact.”
Image Credits: Authentic Brands Group
