butterflies – Lendal Sold!?
Published October 3, 2006 | 
If anything deserves a “NEWS FLASH” this is it! David Johnson of SeaKayakInstructor.com let me know today that Johnson Outdoors of Racine Wisconsin has bought out Lendal Paddles. Lendal based in Wisconsin? Here is the info on his website.
Of course the embarrassing bit is this quote from Helen Johnson-Leipold, CEO of Johnson Outdoors; “Our vision is to own the outdoor adventure, with a clear focus on sustainable growth through continuous innovation and strategic, targeted acquisitions.” What?? “Own the outdoor adventure??”. I’ll own my own adventure, thank you. This of course is just another fine example of that bazaar corporate language that makes you wonder if the speaker is a human being or some strange automated replicate from beyond the moon.
We’ve certainly been watching a huge consolidation of paddle sports companies over the past few years with, dare I say, “mixed” results!? We can only wait and see what the future holds – read complete press release
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10 Responses to butterflies – Lendal Sold!?
They own Ocean Kayak and Necky, Derrick!
We’ll live to see Lendal blades in plastic orange tones.
… and Old Town, Dimension, Water Quest, Extrasport, Eureka, Silva… and on and on. Maybe they’d like to buy up my lake and get the algae out of it for me. After all, why not own ALL of Nature!
Beach property on Baffin anyone? I know a nice little bay with a sandy beach, good view…
That’s really scary news Derrick, and just when the first shipment of Lendals are due to arrive in Tasmania in the next couple of weeks!
The spokeswoman for Johnson sounds like she is totally out of touch with the real world.
Geoff
I guess Johnson had to do something to counter the Watermark/Confluence merger/acquisition. The Walmartization of our industry continues…
Vision=”As they see it”
Clear Focus=”No emotional attachments to products, empoyees, or customers”
Sustainable Growth=”Bottom line dollars”
Continuous Innovation=”When high dollar,high quality product doesn’t sell- cheapen it until it does”
Strategic, Targeted Acquisitions= “Buy all of the competition out”
This kind of press release is written by an accountant with an MBA, who thinks getting outdoors means playing golf at a country club.
The “spokeswoman” is essentially the owner of the company, Helen Johnson-Leipold and she does more than golf! She is the daughter of Sam Johnson aka SC Johnson also known as Johnson Wax, the makers of Windex, Ziploc, Pledge, Glade, and Edge. Her net worth is estimated at $1.5 billion. I once worked for her at her restaurant when it was considered 4 stars. The joke was that it was the company cafeteria, because they created it for them to be able to conduct business at an elegant restaurant close to home. She is an active, athletic down to earth person that DOES participate in outdoor activities. She has been cited for running socially responsible businesses. Her acquisition of Lendal paddles is not necessarily negative. Give them a chance before you criticize.
Bah. Old Town’s product line didn’t get any better, they even discontinued a couple of great kayak designs (Milleniums).
In the absence of an identity for ‘anonymous’, I’m with Richard! Greenland paddles anyone? The only person owning my outdoor adventure is me – period!
thats a shame. we all use lendals because they,re just down the road, you can visit them and drink coffee, my paddles made to measure for no extra cost etc.
Well, in “anon’s” defense maybe they will be benevolent. We’ll see. It would be a rare occurrence. I’d think they would try to produce the paddles cheaper but sell them at the same price. Then cut the warranty to like 15 days. That’s they usual way. Again, we’ll have to see.