Moody's downgrades Gibson

[Dave W]

That rating just went from already bad ("speculative and a high credit risk") to terrible ("poor quality and very high credit risk"). The next step is "highly speculative and with likelihood of being near or in default, but some possibility of recovering principal and interest". 

I can already hear some private equiteers smacking their lips - it would be ironic if Henry J, the former investment banker, had to sell to a private equity fund himself.

Maybe they could spin off the guitar division to an investment group led by a German collector. Then Henry could use the cash to pay the interest on his loans and continue to run his "lifestyle" businesses until they go belly up.

[Rob]

Maybe they could spin off the guitar division to an investment group led by a German collector. Then Henry could use the cash to pay the interest on his loans and continue to run his "lifestyle" businesses until they go belly up.

I wonder if that's not Henry's escape pod.  Just like the people that had unsalable homes, borrowed the most possible and then walked on the deal.

[TBird1958]

Seriously, it'd be wonderful to see Gibson bought by somebody that actually gives a S%^&.

[Dave W]

Henry's too much of a megalomaniac to walk out on the debt unless he has no choice.

It would be nice to see him sell off the guitar division. We can always hope and dream. Hell, just create a separate bass division and spin it off!

[uwe]

  I believe - if the experience of the last six decades can be trusted - that the business case for a stand-alone Gibson bass division is somewhat limited.

Probably even Henry J, the young investment banker who played bass and was there to reorganise a Gibson Company on the brink of insolvency in the mid-eighties, based his decision to buy the whole darn thing (together with some business partners) on something else than just profitability expectations, maybe he liked the idea of ressurrecting a name brand. And in truth: Not everything he has done in 30 years was horrible. Unfortunately - promising start, but too long at the rudder - he's slighty turned into a "Nashville-Mugabe".

Incidentally, what is the status of guitar and bass sales today? Do they continue to climb or are they on a descent from a peak hit, say, two decades ago? My hunch is the latter. I read an interview by Herr Wilfer of Warwick who mentioned that even his company almost capsized a few years back. And Warwick - whether you like the product or not - seems like a well-run company with quite some market penetration (given its less than huge size).

[Rob]

http://siminoff.net/cms/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Orville_costume.jpg

[Dave W]

AFAIK there hasn't been any overall decline in guitar and bass sales.

No, not everything Gibson has done is horrible. But some things are hard to watch! 

[BTL]

My brother, a singer-songwriter-turned-CPA, was briefly the CFO for the Custom Shop back in the early days of Henry's reign.

It's only been in recent years that I fully understand why he left.

[Dave W]

Working that closely with a megalomaniac couldn't have been easy.

[BTL]

In my own career I have come to appreciate how difficult that can be.

[Highlander]

Megalomaniac... cool name for metal bass-player...