oakley and luxottica

[Priyesh P.]

I wonder how HE (Jim) manages to run two companies at once and casually accomplishes a fusion .

http://investor.oakley.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=67365&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1017819&highlight=

[Sanjin Jukic]

Oakley joined Luxottica Group, global leader in eyewear!!!

Have a look at all Luxottica brands
http://www.luxottica.com/english/profilo_aziendale/index_portafogliomarchi.html

Maybe in about 5 years RED will merge with Arri Group or Sony or Panasonic or Canon. Wait and see.

[Andrew M.]

Congratulation!!! Jim.

You couldn’t pick the better home for your baby.
Looks like you are getting really serious about the RED project.
Wish you all the best.
Andrew

[Eugene]

This is good news for future RED camera owners. The deal was for 2.1 billion in cash (not stock). That means Jim has mo money to invest in RED and more time to spend on RED. No more distractions about thinking about sunglasses.

Jim is smart to sell. Oakley is a mature company with limited growth potential. People are only going to buy so many sunglasses. Also the cheap Chinese knock offs will only get better in quality and take a bite out of sales. Think of how rich Jim would have been if he had sold Oakley ten years ago and had invested all that money in Apple stock, or Google stock not even ten years ago. I didn't say anything like that in the past because I didn't want to piss of Jim and have him send Jarred to my house to kick my ass.

There is a lot more growth potential in RED than there was left in Oakley. So now Jim has more money to spend on engineers at RED. That is great for us. At least us here at REDuser hope he invests that money in RED. If not Jim can always do an IPO of RED stock. Lets hope Jim doesn't use that 2 billion to buy a yacht to one up that Oracle CEO.

I didn't have any idea Jim would sell Oakley. I saw that a few months ago, Lens Crafters started sellin Oakley glasses at their store. I wonder if Luxxotica will discontinue the Oakley clothing (and snowboards) and only sell glasses. If so you Oakley lovers better make your own repository of Oakley goods. Better buy that TimeTank now because I am not sure that Luxxotica bought the Oakley brand to sell expensive watches.

Let me know if ther will be a RED stock IPO. :greedy:

[Steve Gibby]

Let me know if ther will be a RED stock IPO.

Jim has stated several times since founding RED that he planned to keep RED a private company. Unlike the RED specifications, which have necessarily been subject to change, I don't think Jim's position on keeping RED private will change.

[Eugene]

Keeping RED private is a good idea if Jim wants to keep Sony from doing a hostile takeover of the company. I was just thinking of my own greed when I was talking about an IPO for RED.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Just because a company goes public, that doesn't mean anyone can take it over. For example, Jim could always choose to maintain 51% or more of all controlling interest in the company or even make all public shares non-voting. Different stock exchanges have different IPO and listing parameters too.

But as long as RED can be held privately, I think it's for the best. As soon as outside investments start coming in, even if shares have voting options or not, you're still going to collect influence from investors and will be somewhat dependent on a highly volatile investor stream.

If RED ever does go public, I'm sure I'd jump at the opportunity to invest.

[Cory Schulthies]

Even if Jim were to retain 51% of the stock that doesn't mean he would have 100% control, majority share holders still have a responsibility to minority share holders to serve their best interest. If he wants to be able to do what he wants and not worry about getting sued, keeping it private is the way to go.

[MikeCurtis]

I was about to start a thread on this when I found this one - you folks get up early!

I just spent and hour writing up my thoughts on what it may mean for Red over on hdforindies.com, but basically, I think it is Jim stating he's All In for Red - good news for us.

Direct link for any who cares -

http://www.hdforindies.com/2007/06/oakley-getting-bought-by-luxottica.html

[Priyesh P.]

I was about to start a thread on this when I found this one - you folks get up early!

I just spent and hour writing up my thoughts on what it may mean for Red over on hdforindies.com, but basically, I think it is Jim stating he's All In for Red - good news for us.

Direct link for any who care -

http://www.hdforindies.com/2007/06/oakley-getting-bought-by-luxottica.html

Oh, just had a little temporal advantage in living on the other side of the globe...
BTW, interesting commentary on HDforindies, Mike.

[Adrian Correia]

very interesting Father Curtis (see, testifying already)....yes I think this bodes well for Red and for all of us.

[Alexis Hanawalt]

Luxotica owns Lenscrafters. They're pretty much the Microsoft of eyewear.

[Hrvoje Simic]

Wow. I would never expect that.
Best of luck Jim.


Jim has stated several times since founding RED that he planned to keep RED a private company.

I'm really glad to know that.

[Eugene]

Hey, I shop at Lens Crafters. Don't compare them to Microsoft.

I feel bad for Luxxotica. No matter how much ad money they spend, they will never be able to get the image of The Boz and his mullet out of my mind. DOG the Bounty Hunter is a better image, but he has a mullet too. It will be interesting to see Luxxotica's ad campaign for Oakley. Will it include a blonde muscular guy with a mullet?

I hope Jarred doesn't grow a mullet and appear in RED ads. :clown2:

http://brandspankin.com/wpshit/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/oakley.jpg

[planet e]

the primary reason to take a company public is to raise money to grow the business. there is also an element of prestige involved. i'm hoping jim is beyond the need to experience either of these.

keeping this private means keeping it in his control and focusing on what matters, which is developing the product line and innovating.

the great irony is that this privately held company is probably the most public company on the planet. most publicly traded companies have to listen to their minority stakeholders only at an annual meeting where, once a year, the single-share shareholder activists rise up to challenge the oligarchy publicly. meanwhile, here at reduser.net, jim and his team are answering to single-share shareholders daily.

[Cory Schulthies]

Does any one know the details of the buy out? I mean often times part of the deal is that the current management stay on board. I think there is a good chance that Jim will be spending just as much time with Oakley as he was. i bet he is still on the board of directors. having said that, smart business people hire other smart business people to do their work. I'm willing to bet that Jim had other people running most of the day to day operations at Oakley long ago, leaving him to make the big decisions and start camera companies.

[Steve Gibby]

If you read the full press release on the link that Kalone provided in his thread-opening post, there are a lot of details about the deal.

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

Luxxotica must do an unbelievably crappy job of advertising because I've never heard of it nor has anyone I've ever known in my entire life. Haha, just kidding, but I've never heard of that company. I know of Lens Crafters obviously. And my impression of them is, eh, who cares.

When I think Oakley I think rugged, stylish, cool, quality, etc. Now that's advertising. Actually it's also having a good product line, hehe.

My dad took his company public in the '90s, worst experience he ever had, investors are morons and usually have no clue what's going on, so they randomly buy and sell based on knowing about as much as a box of rocks, and having to be accountable to them I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. He took his company back private again not that long after. There are still public shares out there, I think they sell for $0.01 each, but since the company still owes my dad like $4 million the chance of anyone owning those shares ever making a Canadian penny are pretty much nill. ;)

[Alexander Nikishin]

Luxxotica must do an unbelievably crappy job of advertising because I've never heard of it nor has anyone I've ever known in my entire life. Haha, just kidding, but I've never heard of that company. I know of Lens Crafters obviously. And my impression of them is, eh, who cares.


They acquire companies, not market themselves...I'm sure you've heard of their product lines.....

http://www.luxottica.com/english/profilo_aziendale/index_portafogliomarchi.html

[Cory Schulthies]

They acquire companies, not market themselves...I'm sure you've heard of their product lines.....

http://www.luxottica.com/english/profilo_aziendale/index_portafogliomarchi.html

just like most people havnt heard of berkshire hathaway, but you do know about geico insurance and other companies they own. btw berkshire hathaway stock is at 108,000.00 a share today.

[number6]

I wonder how this will affect our chances of getting a pair of sunglasses with our cameras.

[Nik Manning]

I thought this info was brand new I was about to post. Seems like RED won't be getting sidetracked now. Smart move on the sale. Maybe this was the engineering hold. :) Find a way to transport all that money to the bank.

[Chosei Funahara]

It's good for Jim and now he can concentrate on Red One, Jim Jannard holds 64% of Oakley, and Luxottica's chairman and founder Leonardo Delvecchio owns 70% of his company, it'll be good merger.
I was reading wallstreel journal this morning and oo went up sharply. I thought was Gucci stuff, but fact is good new for every RED reserve holders.

Wall street Journal:
"We had some issues in the past," Guerra said during Thursday's conference call. "But there's been a big improvement in the last 24 months...we had to learn how to do business together."

Guerra's own role in putting the deal together didn't go unnoticed. Merrill Lynch said in its note Thursday that "this is Andrea Guerra's first real move of consequence since his arrival."

The bank said, "It will be interesting to see how two companies with such different cultures and who have clashed so publicly in the past will now integrate operations."

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20070621-713831.html?mod=hps_us_my_companies

Also Red One is separate company; it's not public trade company. I guess Jim holds 100% of Red One.

[HD Hildebrand]

I think Jim's statement that he would never take Red public speaks volumes re: his experience going public with Oakley. When major investors come into play (even if you don't go public), the game changes tremendously. Just like Mac cosmetics - great minds created a great company, but Estee Lauder comes in, guaranteeing that nothing will change, and despite the promises 2 years later everything is gobbled up and all the great minds are gone. It's a tough gig.

None the less, he created a great company, great product and great returns. May that good fortune continue with Red and with it staying private.

[Eugene]

Smart move on the sale. Maybe this was the engineering hold.

I was thinking something like that. Maybe there is no problem with the boards that go into RED. Maybe they just couldn't start production of RED Ones untill Jim had more cash from the sale of Oakley, which obviously he couldn't tell anyone about. Please, please, please let this be the case. OK, maybe this is just wishfull thinking.

[donatello b]

anybody buy Oakley stock since NAB 2006?

[chuck colburn]

anybody buy Oakley stock since NAB 2006?


LMAO!

Ya think that theyed tell ya?

[MikeCurtis]

Eugene - I don't think the engineering delay had anything to do with it - they had an engineering hold, plain and simple.

And even if Jim needed some cash he didn't have sitting around (and everybody at that level keeps somewhat diversified and keeps somewhat liquid) - if he needed a few tens of millions, he could sell off a few percent of his OO shares no problem.

And Kalone - thanks for the kudos.

-mike

[Emanuel A.]

Congratulations Jim for one more achievement @yours -- we are glad in and on your behalf!

[Priyesh P.]

And Kalone - thanks for the kudos.

-mike

Mike, my pleasure! Honor to whom honor is due.

[Eugene]

I think this graph says it all.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/fig/2610290104002.png

[Eugene]

http://money.cnn.com/1998/05/07/deals/benz/benz-chrysler.02.jpg

Back in 1998, there was a similar merge, but it involved automotives instead of eyewear. There are many parallels. A merger of two corporations with distinctly different corporat cultures, one conservative European and the other innovative American. Daimler recently gave up an cut Chrysler loose at a huge loss. Maybe in ten years Jim can scoop back up Oakley for a pittance, after Luxottica realizes they can't tame the rebels at Oakley.

http://money.cnn.com/1998/05/07/deals/benz/ceos_banner_b.jpg

Notice Eaton smiling. I bet Jim is smiling too, all the way to the bank.

[Eugene]

I don't think jock Oakley and nerdy Luxottica can hope for any type of synergy.

http://delivery.viewimages.com/xv/71754812.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19396908EAF14430D3567CA79039723A2C8 0955542D925C54F6

[OwenR]

Only Jim knows the reasons and some will be financial some will be familly and some will be....but these are his and his reasons only and ultimately not Red.....

[conrad gaunt]

With $2bn from Oakley sale Jim could probably move Red HQ to Mars if he wanted, he`d just need to build a cutting edge space ship (in about 36 months I reckon, based on Red One dev.) and remember to provide factor 8000 sun block (which would also need inventing) to crew members. The business advantages wouldn`t be obvious in the short to long term, but the prestige and PR potential, enormous. It is the red planet after all..

[Policar]

I don't think jock Oakley and nerdy Luxottica can hope for any type of synergy.

http://delivery.viewimages.com/xv/71754812.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19396908EAF14430D3567CA79039723A2C8 0955542D925C54F6

The word on the proverbial street is that wayfarers are the next big thing... The guy who's wearing them is making a goofy expression, but those have been (and will probably be pretty soon) the height of fashion.

IMO, Aviators are best, though, but still...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/Risky_Business.jpg