comes the news that Nike has today "entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Converse, Inc., the globally recognized footwear brand with nearly a century of sports heritage."
That's right, Nike has bought Converse. It's not often that a deal on this scale happens out of the blue (the buying price is $305 million plus the assumption of some of Converse's debt), but I didn't hear even a hint of a rumor that this was going to go down beforehand.
Man, Nike has been spreading around the cabbage in a big way these days. The curious part is what the rationale for this deal is. Nike could have bought the rights to Converse for much less when the company went bankrupt a couple of years ago, so why now? Could it have something to do with spreading the wealth as far as their hoops endorsees goes? Rumor was that Nike made a bid for Fila a few months back in order to give Kobe a brand to front, so maybe this is plan B? Or maybe it's just a way to get further into the "lifestyle" space and counter up-and-comers like Puma? Who knows, but it'll be interesting to see what Nike does with the Converse brand.
The funny part is that this means Karl Malone will finally be, if only indirectly, a Nike athlete. And just in time for his move to LA. Hmmm, I smell a David Stern conspiracy theory brewing here.
