The Beast 2.0

STOCK CLIMBS WHEN SALTER LEAVES

We all know that Jamie Salter stepped down as CEO of Ride during the last week of May 1996. But now, according to the June 3, 1996 issue of the Seattle Times, "Ride [stock]. . . took off because Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Salter decided to drop those titles and become vice chairman. Studies show stocks prosper when a CEO exits, because the investing public sees new initiative moving into the company."

We don't want to question the studies, but Salter stepping down is seen by some in the industry as a little more than "new initiative" at the company.

GETTING PAID

Guess who's the highest paid executive in the State of California? Well, according to the May 26 Business section of the Los Angeles Times it's billionaire eyewear mogul Jim Jannard, chairman of the board for Oakley Sunglasses. For the year 1995 Jim pulled in $9.69 million in salary and bonuses. That's more than Disney CEO Michael Eisner made. To top it off poor Jim Jannard experienced a 54.5 percent pay cut from 1994 when he made $21.29 million.

K2 CREW

Every year K2 takes their favorite retailers and snowboard media people on a trip up Mt. Rainier to try out K2's newest equipment. This year they're doing it June 25-27, 1996. We'll have more of the scoop later.

RIDING THE DUFF

Damn, it's like we can't go a day without hearing another Ride rumor. The latest (and we know this is an old one out on the street) is that Ride is trying to purchase Duffs Shoe Company to expand their empire. Apparently outfitting MTV's Single Out host Chris Harwick in Cappel just wasn't enough for the Seattle based snowboard conglomerate. They want his feet, too.

QUESTION-O-THE WEEK

What was Brad Steward doing in Burlington in mid-May? Why was he meeting with Tom McGann and Jake Carpenter. What could they be talking about? Would it have anything to do with a potential agreement on step-in standards? (Honest, we're just guessing here.)

WE LOVE THE LEAVERS

Shanti Sosienski, associate editor of TransWorld Snowboarding Business turned in her resignation on May 17. Insiders suggest that it was TransWorld's refusal to promote from within that left her with no option but to walk if she ever wanted to write for any of T-dubs consumer magazines.

Eric Lonsway, Burton's ex-boot product manager who was asked to leave the Burton building in February was recently hired by Nike. Not a bad move, huh, Eric? What could an ex-Burton employee possibly be doing for the Phil Knight empire? Snowboard product maybe? From what we've heard it doesn't have anything to do with boots. Could hardware be in the picture for the footwear giant? Only time will tell.

RIDE VS. SWITCH: THE BATTLE CONTINUES

In the further adventures of Ride vs. Switch, several guests of the 1996 Vancouver Skateboarding Championships reported that someone was moving through the crowd handing out T-shirts with the words "Boycott Ride" printed on them. Who could be doing that? The bigger question seems to be, did Switch actually infringe on the Raines patent? Some outside of Ride are beginning to say, "It's very possible."

STONE STOCK

Anyone who wondered how much a snowboard company stock is worth can easily figure it out now. Looks like the market says, "About 12 bucks." Morrow, who's stock basically hugged the 10 line since going public in December was joined by Ride at the mark thanks to Ride's mid-May spiral. Things are beginning to look up, however, as both Ride and Morrow are back on the climb.

Why didn't we buy Vans when we had it on the ticker at 4 1/4. And, hey, what's going on at Quiksilver. Up nearly 5 points during the end of May. We'll check on all this and report next time.

Here's how it looked June 3 at close:

ANT (K2) --- 29 3/4 0

CALP (Kemper) --- 3 3/8 0

MRRW (Morrow) --- 10 5/8 -3/8

MSET (Madison) --- 2 15/16 -1/16

OO (Oakley) --- 49 -1 3/8

QUIK (Quiksilver) --- 42 1/4 -1 5/8

RIDE --- 12 7/8 -1 1/8

VANS --- 19 +9/16

THE ISF IS STILL KICKIN'

International Snowboard Federation officials toured Southern California May 20-22 drumming up support for another "new" tour and another new marketing person--both of which are being touted as being "exactly what the sport of snowboarding needs." As if we haven't heard that before. They stopped off at T-dub headquarters, then went to Thruster and Hang Ten before returning to Bear Mountain for the final day of the meetings. Anyone who's followed competitive snowboarding in the United States for any amount of time knows that this is really nothing to get too excited about. But then maybe this is really the time everything falls together. We doubt it.

Spill all you want, we'll add more.