Gibson in trouble?

Mostly a classic story of an inexplicable drive for massive growth and expansion without a proper argument on why. There's no reason for guitar companies (or a lot of other companies) to get entangled in complicated financial constructions to enable "rapid expansion", especially when you're already one of the (if not the) biggest brands in the industry...
 
Gibson has been circling the financial drain for a long time. I expect a sale, if not bankruptcy. Let's hope some fucking "investment firm" doesn't swoop in.
 
gtrjunior said:
They may actually sell more guitars if they didn't price them out of the reach of the average player
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it's funny, because this is the one thing I think they've been doing right lately. their LPs are crazytown expensive, but they have a pretty hefty range of affordable USA models right now.

Not a single one interests me, but they're there.
 
I pretty much abandoned any interest or intent to own a genuine Gibson, and sold off my Epiphones after Pragestock '14, so my concern for them is minimal...I just think it's a shame to see a respected and venerable maker mishandled as it's been...
 
I remember a similar story from last year, which kind of points to a long term collection of problems. I think they totally fucked their sales on the 'upgraded' models with features no one wanted last year, and they were still recovering from the idiotic choice to spend a lot of money to become a 'lifestyle' brand in the previous years. They just didn't put the right effort into the company, and now they are screwed. Crap leadership/management that clearly lost focus on the core of the business whilst trying to live out the failed business model that even a pudgy scientist like me can pick up on by just occasionally reading Forbes magazine in my dentist's waiting room. You are not the 'lifestyle' brand Harley Davidson. You are not 'the style/tech innovator' Apple. You make fucking guitars.
 
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ColourofFire said:
Mostly a classic story of an inexplicable drive for massive growth and expansion without a proper argument on why. There's no reason for guitar companies (or a lot of other companies) to get entangled in complicated financial constructions to enable "rapid expansion", especially when you're already one of the (if not the) biggest brands in the industry...
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Henry Juszkiewicz, Owner, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corporation, has an MBA from HARVARD. So I'm sure he has excellent reasons for flushing his company down the toilet.
 
What this boils down to: Gibson guitar bonds are now junkier than Gibson guitar nuts.
 
big companies that are run like shit SHOULD go out of business.
chrysler, GM, goldman sachs, bear sterns, they ALL should have been allowed to just DIE!!!!!!!!

same goes for gibson.

there is no goddamn such thing as "to big to fail"
bullshit
 
Guitar Heel said:
it's funny, because this is the one thing I think they've been doing right lately. their LPs are crazytown expensive, but they have a pretty hefty range of affordable USA models right now.

Not a single one interests me, but they're there.
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I saw their USA lineup but there's nothing that I thought was spectacular.
IMO if you're gonna buy a LP, buy a LP....the cheaper models seem...well....cheap.
 
mongooz said:
big companies that are run like shit SHOULD go out of business.
chrysler, GM, goldman sachs, bear sterns, they ALL should have been allowed to just DIE!!!!!!!!

same goes for gibson.

there is no goddamn such thing as "to big to fail"
bullshit
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Considering how much their upper managers talk about their salaries relative to the middle class as some sort of Darwinian selection of the 'best and brightest' as justification for excess, perhaps we should take a Darwinian approach to their corporate survival, meaning no saving anyone for any reason.
 
mongooz said:
big companies that are run like shit SHOULD go out of business.
chrysler, GM, goldman sachs, bear sterns, they ALL should have been allowed to just DIE!!!!!!!!

same goes for gibson.

there is no goddamn such thing as "to big to fail"
bullshit
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Gibson isn’t going to go out of business or get a bailout. Henry J.’s creditors will eventually force him to start selling some of his companies off. Maybe he’ll even turn over the whole thing and let them deal with it, like Bain did when Ares Management lost patience with Guitar Center. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Henry J. sell off the guitar business and rename the holding company. It obviously hasn’t been his focus for years.
 
CBHScott said:
Gibson has been circling the financial drain for a long time. I expect a sale, if not bankruptcy. Let's hope some fucking "investment firm" doesn't swoop in.
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You just poked the bear!

youre-so-bain.jpeg
 
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