Here’s the Reuters article.
Kind of an interesting situation, Cabelas is publicly traded with about $3 billion in market cap. BPS is private, and would have to raise the money for a buyout, assuming they aren’t sitting on top of $3 B in cash.
Then the Cabela’s shareholders would have to approve the sale. I’m not sure how much stock the Cabelas family still owns, but my guess would be it’s significant and so their view of selling out probably still holds some sway.
And even if a buyout were to happen, then what? Would BPS really shut down a brand with recognition like Cabelas and convert the stores to BPS stores, which have great brand recognition in some areas and almost none in others?
As pug has said, I wish BPS would buy Gander.
Grouse
I think there’s a near zero chance that BPS would ever re-brand Cabelas should they buy them out.
I’m guessing if they buy them out and the impact on the stores/customers would be very little. Are you telling me that they’d start charging MORE for their products(is that possible)? The only price points that might change would be Cabelas branded products, but so much of their store inventory is pretty standard retail pricing for brands like Shimano/ St. Croix / G. Loomis / Under Armour / North Face / Daiwa / Humminbird / Garmin / etc. I’m not as familiar with the hunting side of things, but for the most part when a new product comes out from any of these manufacturers, you are going to find the same price at Cabelas, BPS, Gander, Dicks, Fishusa.com, etc.
Sales and clearance are a whole different animal, but how many bait shops/fishing retailers can you stop in and find a Shimano Sahara that’s not $79.99?
It’s been mentioned before, Cabelas/BPS/Gander are making money on their apparel, the other products are so established price point wise that it’s not really up to them to price them differently. That’s where the biggest margin is and it’s why you see them try to push their owned brands so much.
