Breaks my heart but Henry can't survive this gov onslaught...
Breaks my heart but Henry can't survive this gov onslaught...
Gibson was already in financial trouble before any of these raids.
From a March 2010 Debtwire article:
[Gibson CEO Henry] Juszkiewicz earned widespread praise for rescuing the brand in the mid eighties with a hands-on approach, only to draw equally widespread criticism in recent years for his autocratic management style. The owner dissolved Gibsons board of directors in 2008 and spent free cash flow on dividends and subsidiaries, even as he failed to report earnings and flirted with covenant breaches, four sources familiar with Gibsons financial travails told Debtwire.So, while Gibson had been in financial trouble for two years, in April 2010 the Nashville floods hit Gibson big. Gibson was planning to relocate its facility from Opryland mills and had irreplaceable shaping molds for mandolins and banjos on pallets on the floor, not to mention wood. All of that - lost in the flood.While angry employees and retailers lack the leverage to change the CEOs policies including robot guitars, abandonment of small retailers and a revolving door of middle managers Gibsons lenders may force Juszkiewicz to play a different tune.
This is a classic example of a company controlled by one individual, said one of the sources familiar with the matter. And with no independent board of directors and no public shareholders, the only mechanism that lenders have is the hammer of acceleration.
Guitar dealers are equally critical. In the guitar world, a lot of people are frustrated because they feel that [Juszkiewicz] has ruined the company because its all about his ego, not the guitars, said a proprietor of an independent guitar store, who wished to remain anonymous. Gibson and Fender [Music] are two American icons and he is ruining one of those.
The famed guitar maker violated terms on its USD 150m syndicated loan when it failed to deliver 2008 audited financials and is expected to show a breach of financial performance covenants for 2009 as covenant levels tightened, all of the sources said. The most recent forbearance of default expired in January and the company did not bother to extend it.
The only thing keeping lenders from accelerating on the debt is the IP value in Gibsons brand, which is associated with high quality products and commands respect in the industry, all of the sources said.
Gibson didn't manufacture another mandolin until, I believe, January 2011. I know, because I purchased one of the Ten - the first ten mandolins made after the flood were custom-numbered F-5g models.
It's August 2012, and Gibson is stil not making Gibson banjos.
Gibson was in severe financial trouble for reasons unrelated to the government.