Authentic Brands CEO Eyes More Action Sports Deals With Volcom Buy

Authentic Brands Group chief executive officer Jamie Salter sees a rebound in the action sports world that not only pushed him to go in with Volcom management to buy the brand’s intellectual property, but also to build a platform of industry brands. On Tuesday it was revealed a new operating company, called Liberated Brands and majority-owned by Todd Hymel and Volcom management, acquired the brand’s intellectual property from Kering. Hymel is Volcom ceo and now also Liberated ceo. Authentic Brands Group owns a minority stake in Liberated. Salter said the deal, with an undisclosed price, brings him full circle, having started Ride Snowboards in the early Nineties. “I’ve been in the action sports/sports business for a very long time and here we are approaching a $10 billion business on a worldwide basis….It was time, I believe, that we sort of came back into this action sports world,” Salter said. “If you look at surf, skate, snow, I truly believe it’s rebounding in a big way. And if you look at the culture of what’s going on, for the first time, it’s really a business that is multicultural, multinational. Everybody is entering the space from a consumer standpoint and that’s where I think it’s

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