Worr bought by K2

[spantol]

To clarify, I didn't claim that National had anything to do with Kingman. I mentioned the glut of Spyder clones (the Icon Z, the Mongoose, etc), for which they are the exclusive distributor.

It was my understanding that they perform a similar role for BLAST--they let Bob call his own shots, but they're the sole distributor. If that's not the case, my bad, but you clearly got where I was going with that. K2 and National are both shaping up to be strong brand-based paintball powerhouses.

not trying to argue with you, because i have agreed with everything else you have said about multi branding etc...but national doesn't own kingman, nor does it own Intimidator/Bob Long's delta. It is a distributor that has some minor ownership in some of the companies it distributes for. I know it has some ownership of the timmy, but not control. And i don't think, but do not know for sure if they own anything of kingman other than distrobution rights. Thus national is not technically multi-branding...or atleast not with that example.

[logamus]

It's like calling Aston Martin's garbage just because Mazda makes some low-end crap cars.

sixx

SIR!!!! my mazda is greatness!!!111

[Plazmic]

Uh...yeah. I'm guessing you don't have a low end Mazda, right?

[firemoth]

Bud Orr isn't leaving his company.

This is a good thing because now WGP will have a large corporation behind it. If anything, quality will increase.

Cockers will not be sold at Wal-Mart.

BE was pretty much unchanged after k2 bought them, WGP will be the same.

[GT]

Uh...yeah. I'm guessing you don't have a low end Mazda, right?

<-------------- My low end mazda

[Deep Sixx]

SIR!!!! my mazda is greatness!!!111

I said "some", not all. Some are pretty nice. But, my analogy was a comparison between Mazda and Aston Martin (both owned an manufactured by Ford). Compared to A-M, they're not much.

sixx

[Blazingace]

Interesting. Soon all paintball will be brought to you by one company. Kinda like Microsoft. Oh well......I got my X-Mag so I am happy.

[SeeK]

Humm.... interesting, this is news to me too. Well lets see, gun with lots of parts, needs service, can sell lots of upgrades and has no patents. Give it to BE so they can do what? Make it cheaper and cut the service?

Remember, when they bought JT they said the product would not be sold in Wall Mart.....

The last of the cowboys,

AGD

Doesn't this mean that Tom is the last of the cowboys?

[xXHavokXx]

Another shining example: Ugly Dodge Stealth is the same as the Beautiful 3000 GT. Just the 3kgt doesnt have the boomerang, and isnt...you know....ugly.

not trying to argue with you, because i have agreed with everything else you have said about multi branding etc...but national doesn't own kingman, nor does it own Intimidator/Bob Long's delta. It is a distributor that has some minor ownership in some of the companies it distributes for. I know it has some ownership of the timmy, but not control. And i don't think, but do not know for sure if they own anything of kingman other than distrobution rights. Thus national is not technically multi-branding...or atleast not with that example.

You do obviously know what your talking about though...one of the best examples of mutli branding would be GM's Sunfire and Chevy's Cavalier. Same car different company.

so in the end, is it possible that we will see some of BE's junky guns under the WGP name? Yes, it is more than possible...it is quite probably (but i doubt anytime soon).

[QUINCYMASSGUY]

I hope no one opposing this shops at Blockbuster Video, Walmart, Stop N Shop, A+P, KMart, IGA, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc, etc, etc, because what we're witnessing here is the same stuff mom-and-pop video stores, grocery stores, and such have been encountering for the last couple decades with the big giants coming in. Some of the biggest names started on the same level as their competitors and just grew and used whatever tactics possible to grow and become empires. No one likes to hear about the small bookstore having to close, some even protest it, but the people who don't like it can often be found shopping at the same big store driving the little one out of business because regardless of their morals they can't turn down the better selection and pricing a larger company can offer. That is what K2 has offered WGP, a chance for them to be part of a team on a rise instead of the small independent store that keeps saying they'll fight it and looking for support, but in the end find themselves right out of the game. Smartparts are evil, childish, manipulative con men, but K2 is not and is a prime example of a company following the tradition Nike and other greats did on the way to the type of market you see in other industries. I wish WGP the best of luck, and I hope other companies like AGD and AKA see the paths ahead of them and if it comes down to "float with the team" or "sink on their own" they take the better option.

[Plazmic]

Man, QUINCYMASSGUY, I was with right up until you said that AGD and AKA need to sell to the big guys, too. I can see a partnership maybe being a good idea as it can allow for distribution, marketing, and lower cost production. But if every company sells to the big guys then we lose things like personal customer service, company owners listening to their gun owners, and we most likely lose the really innovative minds like Tom Kaye. You've got to have some private makers or you just end of with Best Buy and Dell, with their customer service based in India. Then the sport goes to crap and we're all shooting basically the same gun.

[bryceeden]

My WGP sales rep refuses to talk about any thing related to K2, but I can already see the WGP Triad or Orion or Tritan or what ever its called now. I don't imagine cockers will change much, but I can see a WGP line of Brass Eagle blow backs in the near future.

[QUINCYMASSGUY]

By going now, they can exercise options like maintaining creative control or a senior position in the company, which would allow them to maintain the benefits you so listed. If they wait and get crushed in the market, they'll have far less "eggs in their basket" and less leverage, weaker brand name, and less perceived strengths that the large company would want to invest in, hence smaller investment or less options for the smaller company to maintain, maybe even loss of creative control.

[anxiouspaintblr]

really sorry of this has been asked already but who is K2? dont they make snowboards and what not?

[Plazmic]

Yeah, that's a good point. If they want to remain in control and just take on the corporate backing while giving up most of the profits then that is an option. The thing is, though, that I've never seen that happen where the original owner was not pushed out pretty quickly afterwards. Some small companies benefit from an acquisition, but usually the small company is destroyed and the corporation destroys what made the small company great. Kinko's is a good example of that. Kinko's did a great job of protecting its workers, training them, paid them well, offered lots of incentive to move up within the company. Then they went corporate and now they've been sold twice, the founder and his family have been pushed out, and it's no fun to work there anymore. The good poeple they had are jumping ship and their competition is booming because they good workers are going over and taking the customers with them.

I do see K2 as an exception to the rule of overpowering corporate destruction. They tend to protect the individual companies they take in.
That is not the way with most companies. The concerns being expressed here are based on what people have seen from every other corporate buy-out. People are forcasting the destruction of WGP because that's what normally happens. If it works out for WGP and K2 really does keep them independant of the lesser brands, then you can bet we'll see other small companies selling out to large corporations and then being ruined. We're going to see some of the small guys disappear because of this. I hope AGD is not one of those. I think Tom Kaye is too smart to make that bad a decision, but if AGD is stressing him out and he is tired of dealing with a paintball community that has no idea what it really wants, he could just sell to the highest bidder and let it go.