Kelly Slater Buys Firewire Surfboards?

Kelly Slater Buys Firewire Surfboards

Howdy blog readers,

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the surf industry, word just got out that Kelly Slater plans on purchasing a serious stake in the surfboard company, Firewire. At 42 Kelly Slater has been crowned ASP World Tour Champion for a record 11 times. He's been on the world tour since 1990, and is still competing at the highest level. Kelly has already placed himself in surfing history and is a true legend of the sport. His plan is to turn Firewire into an eco-friendly surfboard company, bringing together best shapers in the world. Although, because Kelly bought a majority share, there’s no payday for current shareholders and their shares are now diluted.

In an interview with Stab Mag Kelly was asked about his recent purchase where he stated,

“It’s nothing definite until it’s finished and it’s a work in progress. But surfboards are a tricky business. There’s a certain irony to all of our environmental talk and chemical walk. That’s not to point fingers at anyone but myself. I just think it’s time to do something about my residue that’s built up.”

Producing the best quality boards will only make up a part of the legacy he aims to leave on surfing. Kelly plans on reducing the company's carbon footprint, while still producing the best surfboards in the world. Another drastic change is to change the logo.

Kelly was one of the first and early ambassadors of the action camera GoPro. He was one of the driving forces that helped the brand achieve such great success. Historically in the surfing world, everything that Kelly Slater has endorsed, has become a huge success. When you sign up Kelly, your signing up for the best marketing figure in the sport. This is also newsworthy because Kelly doesn’t just sign with any company. He's always been much more than just a surfer. Kelly’s focus on changing the surf industry to be more sustainable is getting clearer every day. He wants to leave a new mark on surfing for the greater good.

           

Kelly tells Stab Mag, ““Work wise… I’d love to create an impact on the industry in a positive direction”.

Watch as Kelly makes history everyday: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d_E1Xx4_Ko)

GoPro's stock in trouble after Apple's new patent

What's up internet,

Today I’ve decided to talk about a recent problem that the company GoPro is facing. For those of you who are not familiar with the company, GoPro produces action cameras that are compact, lightweight, rugged, and easily mountable on any surface. GoPro has changed the world of action sports and the way people are able to view them. The camera gives the viewer a POV (point of view) angle through a wide angle lens where the viewer can be in the riders shoes. The company was started by Nick Woodman in 2002 following a surf trip to Australia. Nicks vision for a action POV camera quickly advanced into the HD GoPro cameras that we see today. On June 25, 2014, GoPro’s IPO sold 17.8 million shares to initial investors at $24 per share, totaling $427.2 million. GoPro’s stock is currently trading at $47.12.

For a while now GoPro has owned the action POV camera industry. GoPro has built their brand up to a point that whenever an action POV video appears on the internet you immediately associate it with GoPro. Just like when you have a cut, you reach for a Band-Aid not a bandage, and when you need to blow your nose, you ask for Kleenex not tissue. GoPro was able to achieve this because they were the innovators of the action camera. Things were going great for GoPro until Apple released a new patent relating to a camera system that could be mounted to various objects while being controlled using a phone or watch. According to Patently Apple, Apple's invention could directly move into GoPro's realm as the patent specifically mentions the weaknesses of the GoPro devices.

(Video on backround of patent) “http://www.cbsnews.com/news/apple-camera-patent-gives-gopro-stock-jitters/”

So, will GoPro be affected by Apple’s plan to create a action camera? My answer is yes. Already GoPro has seen a 13% decline in their stock, just from the announcement of Apple's patent. If GoPro’s stock can go down just from the patent just imagine what will happen when Apple releases the product. Apple is a super company that can and will swallow anything that is in it’s path. It wouldn’t be the first time that Apple has taken over a companies product market. A prime example Apples takeover is the Flip pocket camcorder. Flip was recently dumped by CISCO after being purchased for $590 million. Recently after Apple came out with their smart phone that did the exact same thing as the flip video camera. You can imagine who won that battle. As seen in history, Apple is near impossible to compete with. If Apple comes out with a action camera I predict that they will be able to take a sizeable amount of share in the market.