Serotta lays off 40% of workforce, planning shutdown

[dumbod]

Originally Posted by WickedWheels

Guys like Bradway Capital are the ones that buy a struggling company up for dirt cheap not in the hopes of making a great product, but in the hopes of making money on someone else's reputation. There's no tolerance for "break even" and to time to allow growth or a "rebirth". The bike business is tough... too tough for "financiers" unless they buy a brand dirt cheap, take just enough time and effort to try to show some sort of an upswing, and then flip it for a profit. There was no long term plan for owning a bike company because there simply isn't enough money in it.

I'm not going to defend Bradway Capital. A lot of us who do this sort of thing for a living were skeptical about Bradway from the beginning. But keep in mind that the only reason Bradway was ever involved was because the company was, to use your word, struggling and the primary reason that the company was struggling was because of mismanagement. Ultimately, the responsibility for mismanagement is with the CEO and the primary shareholders.

I will admit to not knowing very much about the internal workings of Serotta Competition Bicycles. It is possible that Ben Serotta has been a figurehead for the last decade or so, sort like Eddy Merckx after he sold Merckx Cycles. But if Ben Serotta was more involved in the company, as CEO, Chairman and/or major shareholder, he deserves a great deal of the blame for the demise of a company that has been coming for 10 years or more.

I am always sorry when any company fails and, from experience, I know how painful that is for everyone, including the executive management. But it's way too easy to blame the Bradways and DCGs of the world when the actual fault lies elsewhere.