K2 buys Volkl, Marker, Marmot for $200 million

I tend to be optimistic on these things but I think K2 realizes what Volkl's got going. Would they buy it if they didn't? I think that it's quite possible that Volkl/Technica will operate as a separate entity. I suppose I could see some restructuring of the product lines, where maybe Volkl drops their low end skis and K2 drops their upper-end skis.

Maybe the Euro mags could help on this one, but I think I remember hearing that K2's are expensive in Europe, and thus using Volkl's distribution channels will help make them more competitive there.

Talk to your rep to confirm. But dudele had a huge chunk rip off of his and I had a long strip come off of mine (my wood sidewall cracked too). This is why they're putting titanal strips along the topsheet edge next year. If it's normal nicks and scratches, I don't think they'll help you out. But if a big chunk came off, I think you're set.

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Originally posted by SummitCo 1776

Watch for Marker motion/rail/piston systems integrated onto K2 skis.

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it's already been done dude for atleast a couple years.

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Originally posted by shmerham
Maybe the Euro mags could help on this one, but I think I remember hearing that K2's are expensive in Europe, and thus using Volkl's distribution channels will help make them more competitive there.

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Well, K2s were not officially distributed in the UK this year, although some were imported through "grey" channels from the German distributor (meaning I lost the only spancer I ever had :( ) True, it's a small market but having no distributor does not exactly make them easy to buy. K2 are not crazy expensive in continental Yurp but they are not any cheaper than similar skis either.

IMO K2 buying Volkl could be good for skiers, although it may suck for US Volkl reps - why would they be used for distribution when K2 already have their own network set up?

If they continue to produce high-quality products (that Volkl is known for) but cheaper (as K2 is known for) then that's a good thing. I don't give a rat's where my skis are made provided they are good skis - and the cheaper the better. Volkl is a typical German company - they make a high-quality product for consumers that demand top quality goods. Seeing as their biggest market (in fact the majority of their sales, I think) is Germany, logically K2 won't change the quality of Volkl skis.

FWIW The people who work for Volkl are not the die hard skiers some have painted them as in this thread. True, the designers might be but the actual people who make the skis might just as well be mking car parts for all they care. I haven't been to the Volkl factory for a long time but recent pictures show all the floor-workers as greasy, beer-bellyed, mullet- ( :D ) and German footie shirt- wearing fat guys. In this respect they would seem about as into the product they make as K2's employees in China.

the dude who owns Technica owns Nordica too and he's just going to focus all his efforts on those two comanies.

This isn't really a bad thing, K2's not going to go in and fuck up Volkl. Their offices will be moved out west, but I don't think there are going to be huge drastic changes to any of the products.

And hey, since when does K2 make shitty skis? I fucking love all my pairs and haven't heard of too many K2's bending (explosives) or any sidewall blowout fiasco's.

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Originally posted by shmerham
I tend to be optimistic on these things but I think K2 realizes what Volkl's got going. Would they buy it if they didn't?

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The K2/Anthony Industries string of crushing acquisitions is long
Dana Designs (still good, but not nearly so innovative)
Garuda Tents (good single wall tents)
And more...

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Originally posted by tywhy

And hey, since when does K2 make shitty skis? I fucking love all my pairs and haven't heard of too many K2's bending (explosives) or any sidewall blowout fiasco's.

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They haven't made their own race skis on the WC for the past 4-5 yrs, this year may be the first.

Delam's and lots of junk skis. First round of Axis skis a few years back were chunking out entire sections of topsheet and sidewall, bad press I guess. K2's quality has been lacking for awhile, IMO.

Lots of bent Axis, X's and XP's from what I've seen.

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Originally posted by Mulletizer
IMO K2 buying Volkl could be good for skiers, although it may suck for US Volkl reps - why would they be used for distribution when K2 already have their own network set up.

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Gotta agree with this. onehotchili's buddy is definitely in jeopardy of getting nixed. My sister works as a buyer in the retail world. She's been downsized twice by department stores she worked for being bought out. I would think the same thing applies to a ski rep.

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Originally posted by The AD
Gotta agree with this. onehotchili's buddy is definitely in jeopardy of getting nixed. My sister works as a buyer in the retail world. She's been downsized twice by department stores she worked for being bought out. I would think the same thing applies to a ski rep.

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Yeah, although the more I think about it the more I think it could go either way. With most mergers (yeah, I know, this is an acquisition but the scale of both parties is pretty big) they normally take the most successful parts/employees of each enterprise and can the less useful people/departments that are replicated. SO if I were a K2 rep I could be a little concerned.

Additional info from skipressnews.com...
http://www.skipressworld.com/us/en/d...ml?cat=Finance


Carlsbad, Calif. (Ski Press)-As the snowsports world begins to digest K2 Inc.’s, early morning bombshell that it would acquire Volkl, Marker and Marmot for about $208 million, K2 Chief Executive Officer Richard Heckmann hosted a conference call to discuss the ramifications of the deal.

Heckmann said the primary synergies involved include: better distribution for Volkl in the U.S. and for K2 in Europe, becoming the dominate market force in the alpine ski-binding “systems” market via Marker, an increased worldwide snowboard presence for Volkl and a myriad of opportunities in apparel.

Below are some highlights from Heckmann’s presentation:

* The combined strength of K2 and Volkl will match the number one selling ski in the U.S. in terms of units with the number one selling ski in terms of dollar volume. Together, K2 and Volkl will account for 720,000 skis worldwide this year.

* In addition, Volkl will help improve K2’s European distribution, where the company has been weak in the past, “Perhaps because we’re an American ski brand,” said Heckmann. “Volkl has very powerful distribution in Europe where we have very weak distribution, and. Along with skis, we haven’t been able to distribute accessories products in Europe way we’d like to.”

* While K2 manufactures 300,000 snowboards a year, Volkl only does 20,000. “We think there’s a huge opportunity with our technology, engineering and manufacturing offshore to make a very strong move on behalf of Volkl in that market,” said Heckmann.

* With Volkl’s partnership, Marker’s binding share rose to 43 percent of the market, according to Heckmann. While providing K2 with a captive ski-binding combination for its ski brand, the company also “obviously has some room around the world with our manufacturing facilities to realize some synergies there.” While Marker bindings are currently manufactured for a relatively low cost in the Czech Republic, they could be made at an even lower cost at one of K2’s factories in Asia.

* With the addition of Marmot, as well as Ex Officio earlier this year, K2 Inc., now has a year-round high-end apparel business of $100 million. While Heckmann mentioned the obvious sourcing, distribution and materials benefits, he also said the company will more than likely start offering Ride, K2, Shakespeare (i.e., K2’s fly-rod brand) branded apparel. “I think it represents enormous growth potential,” said Heckmann. “When you put Marmot and Ex Officio together with our Rawlings brand, you already have a $150 million platform for apparel.”

* Heckmann said there are no plans to move Volkl’s manufacturing facilities from German to Asia, especially in light of the brand’s high-end status. “Certainly as far out as I can see, we would not mess with it,” Heckmann said. “That’s something that’s inherent to their status as a high-end ski brand. I certainly don’t want to be the one to tell the German, Austrian and Italian race communities that it doesn’t matter where their skis are made.”

* Growth at Marker is expected to come from accessories and apparel, and from ski-binding systems. Growth at Volkl and K2 is expected to come from the advanced distribution. “We’re stronger in the U.S., they’re stronger in Europe,” said Heckmann. “I think we’ll get into more ski shops, we’ll be able to package K2 and Volkl products to retailers in price points and combos, and we’ll open up distribution for both companies that we haven’t been able to do before.”

* Heckmann did reiterate that he intends to maintain the present management teams at each of the new companies. “Not only do they all have contracts,” Heckmann said. “But I think they’re really excited about this. If you’re in the wintersports business this morning, this is where you want to be. It’s very easy to have these teams stay on with us.”

* As for whether or not the K2 has “filled its acquisition hunger,” Heckmann said, “As I told our directors last not, ‘Excess is simply not enough.’ There are a lot of great transactions out there that we are looking at on a daily basis. And like the acquisitions we announced today, we will finance them in a way that will build up our balance sheet. As far as wintersports are concerned, however, you probably won’t see us do much more this year. Our guys have got their hands full handling the present integration.”

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Originally posted by powwrangler
wh ycan't k2 just make skis in the us again and stop trying to be a worrld power. I think that if they become a giant like reebok or nike their products will suffer, like nike's and reeboks' do.

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MMMMMMMMMWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHAAAAAAHHHHHHAA AAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

The K2 Elite will soon own all of the world!!!!!!

K2, what is best in life? Crush your enemies, see 'dem driven before you, and hear 'da lamentations of 'de women.

Whew, I feel better now. :p

What's up with all this Kay-Two talk? Don't you people mean Kay-Arrr?

Jesusfuckingchrist. What's next? Audis made in Mongolia? I vote "nein."

Two comments...

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* With Volkl’s partnership, Marker’s binding share rose to 43 percent of the market, according to Heckmann. While providing K2 with a captive ski-binding combination for its ski brand, the company also “obviously has some room around the world with our manufacturing facilities to realize some synergies there.” While Marker bindings are currently manufactured for a relatively low cost in the Czech Republic, they could be made at an even lower cost at one of K2’s factories in Asia.

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If you thought Markers sucked before, look out. :D

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* Heckmann said there are no plans to move Volkl’s manufacturing facilities from German to Asia, especially in light of the brand’s high-end status. “Certainly as far out as I can see, we would not mess with it,” Heckmann said. “That’s something that’s inherent to their status as a high-end ski brand. I certainly don’t want to be the one to tell the German, Austrian and Italian race communities that it doesn’t matter where their skis are made.”

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THERE IS A GOD!!!

I just got an email response from the Volkl rep that I work with; I won't paste it here, but I will give you the Reader's Digest abridged version:

• In the U.S. market, there will be no effect at the warehouse/rep/retail level.
  
• Technica was not/is not for sale; distribution is the basis for the Volkl/Technica relationship in most markets
  
• K2 skis does not now own Volkl. K2 Holding does. K2 Holding, being public, must make sound investments, and then show a profit for their stockholders.
  
• Enhanced worldwide distribution issues are as already mentioned.
  
• It makes no sense to combine warehousing, customer service, reps, etc. Reason: K2 ships into the US from China, so the best place to warehouse is Seattle. Volkl comes in from Europe, so the NE U.S. is the best place to warehouse. Cust service & reps from both Co's have full plates...combining would negatively affect the retailer. No one wants that.
  
• When the question - about dumping the German R & D department & putting a volkl sticker on a K2 ski - was asked during the aforementioned conference call; the person asking the question was assured that that will not happen.
  
• Net result? The 2 strongest brands in this country right now are Volkl and K2. They will now get stronger. Net result for Salomon et al? Not so good.

In my opinion, the net result of this acquisition will be largely invisible at our level of the food-chain.

Thank goodness [/heavy sigh]

There was quite a stir in Europe this past season when a British company bought some ski presses and was making a wood core knock-off of the Launcher in Bulgaria, selling it w/Salomon bindings for like 450 Euros. I'm sure that scared a lot of big companies.

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Originally posted by splat
There was quite a stir in Europe this past season when a British company bought some ski presses and was making a wood core knock-off of the Launcher in Bulgaria, selling it w/Salomon bindings for like 450 Euros. I'm sure that scared a lot of big companies.

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Armada? Surely not as their skis are skinny as hell. Who was it what are their skis called? Heard something about it, a vague rumour a while ago but nothing else. Sorry, just too curious.

Interesting IG. Hopefully it means that you'll still be able to offload a load of stock here. :)

I don't remember the name, but Tom told me about it and I was going to go to Bulgaria after ispo to talk them about it. But I found out there were some size limitations (widths) with the presses, so I blew it off.

Armada has their skis built in Bulgaria?

No, but Armada's finance came from a Brit, through a British company. I would expect them to be built somewhere low-rent though.

Markers <----- even more shitty in the future than they have been in the past.

K2 <----- might grab some durability by osmosis from Volkl.

Volkl <----- I don't see an advantage, but as long as they stay mostly seperate I don't see any disadvantage.

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Originally posted by InspectorGadget
[*]K2 skis does not now own Volkl. K2 Holding does. K2 Holding, being public, must make sound investments, and then show a profit for their stockholders.
[*]When the question - about dumping the German R & D department & putting a volkl sticker on a K2 ski - was asked during the aforementioned conference call; the person asking the question was assured that that will not happen.

In my opinion, the net result of this acquisition will be largely invisible at our level of the food-chain. [/heavy sigh]

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See above posts re Dana Designs and Garuda. They dumped R&D, offshored, and rebadged. And their products are mostly Made in China versions of things designed before acquisition. Anthony Industries (aka K2 corporate) isn't the brightest of corporate owners.

Last time I visited (1994), Bulgaria had no copyright laws. Their national ski manufacturer, Mladost, would often build knockoff Salomon and Volkl copies and sell them to the domestic market. Every burger place was a McDonalds and every tent that served fried pigeon was a KFC.

The only reason I didn't buy Gotamas was because Buddha didn't have a flashing LED bindi in the middle of his forehead. My prayers could be answered.

When my Volkls wear out, Stockli here I come.....

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Originally posted by CaddyDaddy77
Tecnica's brands focus on the winter sports market and include Dolomite (skis and clothing), Lowa (outdoor and ski boots), Think Pink (sportswear), and Marker (ski bindings and outerwear).

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Think Pink was never the same. I mean, sure, it's still pink, but...

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Originally posted by bad_roo


The only reason I didn't buy Gotamas was because Buddha didn't have a flashing LED bindi in the middle of his forehead. My prayers could be answered.

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i wanna see some markers held on with rivets.

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Originally posted by Squirrel_Murphy
'da lamentations

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Doncha mean de-laminations ?