Autococker KO'd by AGD !

[rabidchihauhau]

If you don't count the bloat of the last few years and tried to sell the business on the growth of total number paint and marker sales over the previous 10 years, I would think you would see some impressive numbers. However, given the way things kind of topped out, it looks like a real exponential curve, with the steep climb and the limit at saturation. They were probably looking for a position in the market and went for the easy in.

I think the internet has helped develop the market by reaching a lot more people, but that growth has also slowed. There's a lot of support and supply available on the internet (like Airgun Designs). It's like the internet is the main business forum for paintball now. Too bad shipping is so high on paint. :)

I was being at least partially sarcastic.

What you say is correct - but consider the following as well:

If I was running a company that commanded hundreds of millions + of investment dollars, I most definately would not be buying anything until after I've done due diligence AND market analysis.

I would imagine that things such as inflated attendance claims, unreasonably optimistic sales estimates, ridiculously low return rates, and accounting that either doesn't make sense or doesn't balance on both sides of the ledger no matter how much magic you do, (among other things) would make themselves glaringly evident to a company that can obviously afford the best in financial analysts, investment strategists and business attorneys.

Situations similar to the above were glaringly obvious to anyone in the industry who bothered to think about it for two seconds. They should have been equally evident to people that make buying and selling businesses their business.

Then again, buying inventory as part of a deal and then having it disappear out the back door is just as preventable and that's happened plenty of times already, so maybe I'm expecting a little too much from the professionals.

[Spider-TW]

Then again, buying inventory as part of a deal and then having it disappear out the back door is just as preventable and that's happened plenty of times already, so maybe I'm expecting a little too much from the professionals.

Yeah, I don't know what they were doing, but I do know 'professionals' are people too. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, etc. Having a degree helps weed the group out, but there are always those that make you wonder how they got there. I think IQ levels run with the root mean square of the group, so I don't give credit to larger companies just for their size.

Maybe they have a plan...

[Chronobreak]

I was being at least partially sarcastic.

What you say is correct - but consider the following as well:

If I was running a company that commanded hundreds of millions + of investment dollars, I most definately would not be buying anything until after I've done due diligence AND market analysis.

I would imagine that things such as inflated attendance claims, unreasonably optimistic sales estimates, ridiculously low return rates, and accounting that either doesn't make sense or doesn't balance on both sides of the ledger no matter how much magic you do, (among other things) would make themselves glaringly evident to a company that can obviously afford the best in financial analysts, investment strategists and business attorneys.

Situations similar to the above were glaringly obvious to anyone in the industry who bothered to think about it for two seconds. They should have been equally evident to people that make buying and selling businesses their business.

Then again, buying inventory as part of a deal and then having it disappear out the back door is just as preventable and that's happened plenty of times already, so maybe I'm expecting a little too much from the professionals.

sounds bout spot on, someone must have had dealing with them before

some people are just stuck in their ways or dont know how to approach the market, or are getting the wrong info on how to do so


--edit as for a plan, have you seen the stuff JT,WGP, BE have been releasing? it is not hitting any target market that i am seeing and is pretty poorly thought out in terms of desighns if you ask me.

--double edit i think what we are seeing is a company that needs to streamline things as AGD did not too long ago when they started clearing out inventory

[rabidchihauhau]

there's streamlining and then there's streamlining. Reminds me of those super models that get caught in the bulemia trap...

[Silverback]

Hey Tom,

Glad your still taking a peak at the boards occasionally. Still swear by AGD, even MORE today than when I got my first one back in 1992, playing for "Texas Storm".

Hope to here more from you in the days ahead.

CHUFF! CHUFF!

[Spider-TW]

as for a plan, have you seen the stuff JT,WGP, BE have been releasing? it is not hitting any target market that i am seeing and is pretty poorly thought out in terms of desighns if you ask me.

I don't see that market either, but if it's cheap enough, a big company can keep junk on the shelves for a very long time. Cheap stuff doesn't require advertising, just a slick package. I think the worse end of it is that it provides starter equipment to the uniformed and unguided, if only for a day. The vandalism and accidents settled against the big companies take a chunk out of our prize marker makers through insurance.

Insurance is where capitalism and socialism meet.

[grEnAlEins]

This is really too bad. Really sad to see such and old company go belly up. I hope the price for a decent cocker does not go through the roof...