Volcom Acquired By Authentic Brands Group
Authentic Brands Group have purchased the intellectual property of Volcom from Kering S.A. The acquisition sees Volcom founder Todd Hymel and Volcom’s current management team set up and take majority shares in a newly formed operating company, Liberated Brands which ABG has taken a minority stake in. Hymel and the newly created Liberated Brands will continue to run operations at their US, French, Australien and Japanese HQs on the product, athlete marketing, retail and wholesale side of things while ABG will lend their expertise in “amplifying brand awareness and business development for Volcom while leveraging Liberated Brands’ specialized retail and wholesale operations as a platform for international expansion of complementary ABG-owned brands.”
ABG is a brand development, marketing, and entertainment company that owns a global portfolio of entertainment and lifestyle brands including action sports brands Spyder, Airwalk, Vision Street Wear and the brand management for consumer brands including golfer Greg Norman, basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, Muhammad Ali, Elvis Presley, Bobby Jones & Marilyn Monroe. They own 50 brands, have 875 partners and a retail presence of nearly 5000 stores.