Authentic Brands Group now has annual retail sales in excess of $29 billion worldwide thanks to Friday’s closing of its deal to acquire Boardriders.
In March, the brand development, marketing and entertainment firm inked a deal to acquire Boardriders, the parent of Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, RVCA, DC Shoes, Element, VonZipper, Honolua and Boardriders, for a reported $1.25 billion. At the time, Authentic had sales of $27.6 billion.
The company said it would shortly begin to orchestrate its plan to “announce a roster of best-in-class partners around the world to help drive the brands in their next stage of growth.”
The acquisition of Boardriders is a return to his roots in some way for Authentic’s founder Jamie Salter. The Toronto native started his career in sports marketing and was the cofounder of Ride snowboards in the early ’90s. After that company went public, he and Fanatics’ founder and executive chairman Michael Rubin created Global Sports Inc., which eventually became GSI Commerce. Once he exited that business, Salter turned his attention to licensing, cofounding Hilco Consumer Capital. Then in 2010, he formed Authentic Brands Group.
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The company now owns more than 40 brands in a variety of categories ranging from Reebok and Brooks Brothers to Nautica and Sports Illustrated. In addition to Boardriders, it recently purchased Rockport and Hunter.
