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If Fender Went Belly Up...

#101
Laurent said:
Yes of course Fender has to be holding huge receivable with GC. I am not an industry insider but I would assume it's somewhere in the range of Fender annual profit best case scenario and equal to two years of annual profit if their credit policy has been loosey-goosey.

Now, whatever happens, Fender will never become a controlling creditor of GC. Their receivables have to be in the 1 to 2% range of GC debt, less if they have been careful. So it's not enough to control anything under any circumstance. When a large partner files for bankruptcy, you just get hurt bad.

This is partly why Fender's IPO's did not go through last year. Share price was too high and investors realized Fender's dependancy on GC was too high.

When it comes to independents picking up this business, it’s possible but the scale is huge. If you assume your independent store average size is $5M, it would take 400 stores doubling their business volume to make up what GC does annually. Even if only half the chain is wiped out in a restructuration plan, that’s still a boatload of volume.
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Well maybe this is a wakeup call to these large MI companies not to get so greedy to where they're so dependent on one company to make their bones. And maybe it's also a wakeup call to these big box stores not to bite off more than they can chew.
 
#103
drTSTingray said:
Another thought - it's nearly 50 yrs since Mr Fender himself was associated with Fender instruments..........how Fender are they in reality?
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as long as they're making quality stuff with the fender name and producing the core models it's fender enough for me. at least SOME american production is also nice. we can't really hold Leo's absence against them because he was bound to move on at some point and eventually die. he was only one man, and I think the company he built is more than that.
 
#110
Look how LITTLE Fender basses have changed over the years. Maybe a better pickup, Improved tuners, etc but the basic Fender basses are still pretty much the same as when they were first dreamed up by Leo Fender. If Fender went under and someone came along and tried to change anything I don't think consumers would have it. Some things are just part of history.
 
#111
Err... A new "fender" would appear, as has been said.

But if Fender completely disappeared? I'd play the crap out of the ones I have. Let's be honest, most of the ones from the 1950s still work just fine if they're been maintained. If my Fenders were to disappear? I'd go buy three Stingrays.
 

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