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New Management


JuanCarlosVejar

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Looks like the new owners (KKR) have spent the period of bankruptcy protection by restructuring the entire organization. Henry and his entire senior team is out. KKR has installed one of their senior fund managers as Chairman of the Board (Nat Zilkha) and appointed a new senior management team of a CEO, CMO, CFO and CPO (Executive, Merchant, Financial and Production) effective November 1. Both the new CEO and CMO are guitarists and Curleigh (CEO) comes directly from being CEO at Levis.

 

It is way too early to tell, but I think the new owners insisting on the executive and merchandise senior managers being guitar enthusiasts means they might have done their homework and understood that Gibson is a music brand and their main customer demographic is musicians. This might mean they focus on what musicians want and need rather than creating a "lifestyle" brand.

 

I personally hope they allow the Bozeman operation to continue to make fine products. They can make all the green J200's they want as long as they continue to make great acoustics generally.

 

Time will tell.

 

Edit: Here is an interesting bit of background from guitar.com on Curleigh:

 

"Curleigh is a newcomer to the musical instruments industry. The Harvard Business School alum has spent the majority of his career leading sportswear brands such as Salomon and KEEN before joining Levi Strauss in 2012.

 

Over the six successful years there, he re-established Levi’s as a global powerhouse, rebuilding the storied denim brand into a relevant, youthful and commercially successful one – while preserving its cherished authenticity and heritage."

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Nice, nice, nice.

 

Having at least a couple of people at the top who understand the Guitar Junkie thing, and what this brand has meant to so many of us, seems so very important.

 

Yes, in the beginning Henry was that guy, but somewhere along the line he apparently lost his way. Let's hope these newbies keep each other in check, and keep their eyes on the ball.

 

Looking forward to great things!

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You mean the guy who wanted us to replace our Levis with yoga pants?

 

I have read the guy is quite the showman, predictor of trends and a marketing wiz. I am guessing the "guitar enthusiast" (whatever that is) had little to do with his selection but does make for some great PR.

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I wish them the best. Best wishes to Henry a;nd the former team that brought Gibson out of the mostly horrid Norlin Era. Sounds like the new management understands what the name “Gibson” represents.>........Personally, I hope they produce some new models. Not talking about another J45 or Hummingbird variation, etc. How many versions of the vaunted Gibson legends do we currently have? I can’t see watering-down the breed There are hundreds of bird names they can use for these variations (that are superb instruments in heir own right).

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Well, I do wish them all the best and all the luck, but it is early days as yet and all that article is PR......words. Time will tell.

 

But there is a conundrum [tongue] ....can a Finance with a capital F person truly love guitars firstly (money has a habit of vanishing from guitarist's pockets regularly and finance people generally like to hang on to their money, sometimes until their last, dying breath!), and then there is the buying of actual Gibson acoustics, which honestly, are NOT a budget item finance people generally go for! [biggrin]. And in my neck of the woods, pun intended, you can buy 4 or 5 local hand made guitars for the price of one Bird. I know what a guitarist would go for from forums and I think I know what finance people generally go for, from working with them in a corporate team as the graphics person......'What? $2,500 for the printer ink every week?' etc, etc. Would I be cynical to suggest they took the new jobs to get a free Gibson acoustic? :mellow:

 

 

BluesKing777.

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Looks like the new owners (KKR) have spent the period of bankruptcy protection by restructuring the entire organization. Henry and his entire senior team is out. KKR has installed one of their senior fund managers as Chairman of the Board (Nat Zilkha) and appointed a new senior management team of a CEO, CMO, CFO and CPO (Executive, Merchant, Financial and Production) effective November 1. Both the new CEO and CMO are guitarists and Curleigh (CEO) comes directly from being CEO at Levis.

 

It is way too early to tell, but I think the new owners insisting on the executive and merchandise senior managers being guitar enthusiasts means they might have done their homework and understood that Gibson is a music brand and their main customer demographic is musicians. This might mean they focus on what musicians want and need rather than creating a "lifestyle" brand.

 

I personally hope they allow the Bozeman operation to continue to make fine products. They can make all the green J200's they want as long as they continue to make great acoustics generally.

 

Time will tell.

 

Edit: Here is an interesting bit of background from guitar.com on Curleigh:

 

"Curleigh is a newcomer to the musical instruments industry. The Harvard Business School alum has spent the majority of his career leading sportswear brands such as Salomon and KEEN before joining Levi Strauss in 2012.

 

Over the six successful years there, he re-established Levi’s as a global powerhouse, rebuilding the storied denim brand into a relevant, youthful and commercially successful one – while preserving its cherished authenticity and heritage."

 

 

Levis are made in China now arent they?

 

Hope this guy likes his Consumers in the Gibson Guitar world..

 

 

 

 

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They are probably sitting around the new round table and avidly reading our little forum for clues on what to do!

 

Well, I have a couple of money making ideas for them, so many in fact that I am a little disappointed I didn't get asked to run the joint, but anyway put that all aside and move along....

 

No 1 - just make ONE J45 that is superb. [thumbup]

 

No 2 - reisuue the Kalamazoo KG-14 ladder braced guitars immediately, use any wood you like but make 'em LIGHT and soulful. See Bill Collings "Waterloo Guitar" idea - sold bucketloads. And 'RELIC" them! [thumbup]

 

 

 

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

I have others but we will see how you handle these 2 first! [biggrin] [biggrin] [biggrin]

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My hope is they will offer straight bracing and update stuff like the Pickguards which on most models can be a bit better .

 

Reduce so much ltds editions and instead create new models that can start a legacy of their own (ex: songwriter and songbird designs)

 

Either way I am exited to see what the newer JC has to offer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JC

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As a Gibson owner, I wish them luck and I hope they figure out what needs to be done to keep the brand alive. If they can also figure out how to build me a 12-fret slope at an affordable price, all the better.

 

As someone who was living in Texas in the '80s and remembers what Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis and George Roberts ("KKR") did to Safeway after they bought it, I'd be nervous if I were a Gibson employee. There were layoffs by the ton. Safeway eventually became a success again, but there was a LOT of pain along that road.

 

https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/in-safeway-buyout-a-reminder-of-a-painful-takeover-years-ago/

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I wish them all the very best and it seems like a very deliberate and conscioius step to take the brand back to its past glory.

 

The only question I have is I wonder if being a past CEO of Levis is an example of a legendary brand that has maintained the test of time ? Here in Europe Levis are from a bygone era and have lost much brand appel and relevance.

 

I hope he can have more effect than he did with Levis, although admittedly I dont have actual performance data, but just looking around Levis doesnt seem to be a strong brand anymore.

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Here is my take on this guy. While running Levis he saw demand drop resulting in the laying off of a large number of workers and such. Rather than even consider lowering the price tag of a pair of Levis, he went for a new market with Dockers and those slim line jeans made of material other than denim. I cannot speak for the rest of you but I no longer have a yoga pants kind of body. But I am guessing this guy is betting there is a much larger market out there that does.

 

Can you say Slim Line acoustics?

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