Gibson Acquires Mesa/Boogie

[DownUnder_Funk]

Parts of this sound like a future path for GK. Robert Gallien is at least 70 and is the only CEO GK has ever had. I'm thinking that in the back of his mind . . .

Not ever letting go of my 700RB

 

[Al Kraft]

Just a thought, but, is it not possible that factoring in a larger economy of scale yet no other changes could actually lower pricing a bit on Mesa offerings?

I suspect the worldwide distribution capability of the combined entity and increased buying power due to larger orders for many materials/parts/components will most certainly benefit customers from a pricing standpoint. Additionally, Mesa customers are used to a certain quality level and Gibson would simply be wasting money if they thought the Mesa customer base would remain brand loyal without that quality.

We all will get the chance to vote with our dollars in a highly competitive market place. I can't believe Gibson didn't think carefully about that before the acquisition. I seriously doubt their goal was to spend a lot of money acquiring Mesa only to lose it by making bad decisions relative to what makes Mesa people willing to pay the premium to own the brand.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

I suspect the worldwide distribution capability of the combined entity and increased buying power due to larger orders for many materials/parts/components will most certainly benefit customers from a pricing standpoint. Additionally, Mesa customers are used to a certain quality level and Gibson would simply be wasting money if they thought the Mesa customer base would remain brand loyal without that quality.

We all will get the chance to vote with our dollars in a highly competitive market place. I can't believe Gibson didn't think carefully about that before the acquisition. I seriously doubt their goal was to spend a lot of money acquiring Mesa only to lose it by making bad decisions relative to what makes Mesa people willing to pay the premium to own the brand.

The sticking point it that is exactly what Gibson has done previously. Sure, it was under Henry j. But Gibson's legacy is a file cabinet full of brand names of days gone by.
It is this legacy that gives pause.

 

[Jeff Scott]

...Mesa customers are used to a certain quality level and Gibson would simply be wasting money if they thought the Mesa customer base would remain brand loyal without that quality.

One can only hope.

 

[Sid Fang]

I suspect the worldwide distribution capability of the combined entity and increased buying power due to larger orders for many materials/parts/components will most certainly benefit customers from a pricing standpoint...

Perhaps. But somehow, over the last 40 years or so, I've heard a lot of promises that consolidation and globalization were going to be good for us as consumers, but somehow we keep paying a little less money for a whole lot less product.

 

[Al Kraft]

I respect the skepticism and actually share some of the same concerns. However, I'm hopeful that people/companies can learn from their mistakes and turn bad experiences into future success. None of us (including Gibson or Mesa) win if another good company is lost to poor decision making.

The fact that Mesa products are more of a complementary offering and not a directly competing product line makes me think there is a strategy here that could be better news than history repeating itself. At the end of the day Mesa (and Gibson) will need to earn my money by providing the products and support I've come to expect. There are a lot of other companies who would be happy to take my money, and the presence of those worthy business competitors can't possibly be a surprise to Gibson.

Mesa is a strong company that can survive this without damage and likely even find ways to improve in some areas. Gibson certainly knows how to do things right, but if they ignore the potential of what they have in Mesa, nothing prevents us from taking our hard earned dollars elsewhere.

I'm going to wait and see before making a judgement and sincerely hope that Gibson is reading this thread (and a few others) to get a feel for the challenge they have with the Mesa customer base. I do believe that if we don't at least give them a chance to prove themselves, we will be part of creating the history we hope to not witness again. Mesa has created a customer base with high expectations - Gibson needs to clearly understand and respect that for this to work out well...and I hope it does!

 

[Beejay772]

Didn't they try to break into the amp market with Trace Elliott? And Didn't they fail?

 

[agedhorse]

Didn't they try to break into the amp market with Trace Elliott? And Didn't they fail?

Pretty much everyone in the ownership chain of Trace suffered to some extent, including the original directors of the company who bought back Trace from KMC.

 

[Nebadon2000]

One can only hope.

The Guitar player side of Mesa don't seem to have much hope, they are angry [see Mesa Facebook]

 

[Jeff Scott]

The Guitar player side of Mesa don't seem to have much hope, they are angry [see Mesa Facebook]

Won't ever know - I don't do FB. Hopefully, those who run Gibson truly know what Mesa and their customers are all about and simply inject funds and distribution into Mesa and leave them to do their thing as they (Mesa) always have.

 

[Ed Byrnes]

The MI industry is unique in that most of the companies we love are still run by the founders, or founder's family. Mesa, Aguilar, Rickenbacker, Carvin/Keisel, Dunlop, D'Addario, Ernie Ball, EHX, Martin, Taylor, PRS, Peavey...you get the point. These companies were started as a labor of love with a vision of creating great products way before profit. This is where the challenge lies when a large corporate entity acquires one of these companies. How do corporate managers, whose very success is tied to profit and market share, and who have no real passion for Mesa, transition Mesa (without Randall) without the brand suffering. For companies like Mesa, the founder IS the brand. Word of mouth/customer devotion is their most powerful asset and their most dangerous threat. Like "Pre-CBS" Fender and "Pre-Loud" Ampeg, does "Pre-Gibson" Mesa become a rallying cry on sites like TB? No matter what Gibson does the emotional bonds between Mesa and it's most loyal fans are at risk. Finally, is the Mesa brand broad enough (with a large following as opposed to small and passionate), and is Gibson dedicated enough to the brand, that it allows Mesa to survive when/if their most dedicated fans and word of mouth turn negative and sales decline. IMHO this is why these types of acquisitions usually don't work.

 

[Geri O]

The MI industry is unique in that most of the companies we love are still run by the founders, or founder's family. Mesa, Aguilar, Rickenbacker, Carvin/Keisel, Dunlop, D'Addario, Ernie Ball, EHX, Martin, Taylor, PRS, Peavey...you get the point. These companies were started as a labor of love with a vision of creating great products way before profit. This is where the challenge lies when a large corporate entity acquires one of these companies. How do corporate managers, whose very success is tied to profit and market share, and who have no real passion for Mesa, transition Mesa (without Randall) without the brand suffering. For companies like Mesa, the founder IS the brand. Word of mouth/customer devotion is their most powerful asset and their most dangerous threat. Like "Pre-CBS" Fender and "Pre-Loud" Ampeg, does "Pre-Gibson" Mesa become a rallying cry on sites like TB? No matter what Gibson does the emotional bonds between Mesa and it's most loyal fans are at risk. Finally, is the Mesa brand broad enough (with a large following as opposed to small and passionate), and is Gibson dedicated enough to the brand, that it allows Mesa to survive when/if their most dedicated fans and word of mouth turn negative and sales decline. IMHO this is why these types of acquisitions usually don't work.

Nice post, but read a little deeper.

Randall will stay with Mesa.

 

[Nebadon2000]

Won't ever know - I don't do FB. Hopefully, those who run Gibson truly know what Mesa and their customers are all about and simply inject funds and distribution into Mesa and leave them to do their thing as they (Mesa) always have.

You don't have to 'DO' Facebook, they have a link from their website

 

[Jim C]

Nice post, but read a little deeper.
Randall will stay with Mesa.

I think Ed is saying what will Mesa be like when Randall decides to really step back from the day to day decision making or step down?
My answer is we don't know.

What we don't (and probably never will know) is how profitable has Mesa really been. I would think they should be doing well based on how well the bass amps do but again it's all a guess.
Considering how volatile its been for US based manufacturing companies, I would think that Gibson and its' new management aren't acquiring a brand that is struggling or that they "stole" it at some below market price.

My GUESS is that it was a rare and very attractive business proposition that would unlikely never happen again and will strengthen both brands assuming great management.

Wonder how this will affect Fender in the long run?

 

[fishdude101101]

I respect the skepticism and actually share some of the same concerns. However, I'm hopeful that people/companies can learn from their mistakes and turn bad experiences into future success. None of us (including Gibson or Mesa) win if another good company is lost to poor decision making.

The fact that Mesa products are more of a complementary offering and not a directly competing product line makes me think there is a strategy here that could be better news than history repeating itself. At the end of the day Mesa (and Gibson) will need to earn my money by providing the products and support I've come to expect. There are a lot of other companies who would be happy to take my money, and the presence of those worthy business competitors can't possibly be a surprise to Gibson.

Mesa is a strong company that can survive this without damage and likely even find ways to improve in some areas. Gibson certainly knows how to do things right, but if they ignore the potential of what they have in Mesa, nothing prevents us from taking our hard earned dollars elsewhere.

I'm going to wait and see before making a judgement and sincerely hope that Gibson is reading this thread (and a few others) to get a feel for the challenge they have with the Mesa customer base. I do believe that if we don't at least give them a chance to prove themselves, we will be part of creating the history we hope to not witness again. Mesa has created a customer base with high expectations - Gibson needs to clearly understand and respect that for this to work out well...and I hope it does!

I'm hopeful but to be honest I'm not super optimistic. There is just something intangible that gets lost when a company becomes a subsidiary. The products lose authenticity. I mean in certain ways Mesa won't exist anymore. There is nothing stopping Gibson from slapping the Mesa name on junk. I don't like Gibson based on my own experiences with them.

Why am I negative? Well I've just never seen these things work out.

 

[Al Kraft]

I'm hopeful but to be honest I'm not super optimistic. There is just something intangible that gets lost when a company becomes a subsidiary. The products lose authenticity. I mean in certain ways Mesa won't exist anymore. There is nothing stopping Gibson from slapping the Mesa name on junk. I don't like Gibson based on my own experiences with them.

Why am I negative? Well I've just never seen these things work out.

I get it, I really do...but I keep thinking that at some point in time one of these big companies is going to impress me and be the exception to what seems to be the rule. I'm just not ready to give up on Mesa and really hoping that Mesa and Gibson leadership are going to do what they promised in the press release.

 

[fishdude101101]

I get it, I really do...but I keep thinking that at some point in time one of these big companies is going to impress me and be the exception to what seems to be the rule. I'm just not ready to give up on Mesa and really hoping that Mesa and Gibson leadership are going to do what they promised in the press release.

I really hope you're right and I'm worried about nothing.

 

[2tonic]

..... I mean in certain ways Mesa won't exist anymore. There is nothing stopping Gibson from slapping the Mesa name on junk.....

Not to be argumentative, but there may very well be "something" that prevents Gibson from degrading Mesa's quality standards, or injudiciously harming their marque.
We are not privy to all the details of the contract, and this issue may have been directly addressed and proscribed, thus it's not something we have to worry about.




Of course, there's still a thousand other things, in this deal, that we have to worry about!

 

[basscooker]

I hope any changes to products come with a REV assignment.

I also hope that within the parameters of respect to hierarchy that engineering is allowed to push back if bean counters try to affect changes that impacts quality or longevity. Just being an equivalent on paper doesn't necessarily mean a component is of equal quality. The phrase "you get what you pay for" has become a murky half-truth. Sometimes prices can reflect brand reputation of owners past; and current (hypothetical) brand is of lesser quality.

 

[Balog]

I hope any changes to products come with a REV assignment.

What's a REV assignment? I haven't seen that expression before.