Head (company)

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HEAD NV
Type Public
Traded as OTC Pink: HEDYY
Industry sportswear and Sports equipment
Founded 1950 (Baltimore, Maryland)
Headquarters Amsterdam, Netherlands
Kennelbach, Austria
Key people Howard Head (founder)
Johan Eliasch (CEO)
Products Footwear
Accessories
sportswear
Revenue $377.5 million (2006)[1]
Profit Increase $4.4 million (2006)[1]
Employees 1,966 (2006)[1]
Website Head.com

HEAD NV is a sports equipment and clothing company, known mainly for their alpine skis and tennis racquets. It is also affiliated with an Indonesian maker of kretek clove cigarettes, Gudang Garam. The current company includes parts of several previously independent companies, including Head Ski Company, founded in Delaware in 1950, Tyrolia, an Austria ski-equipment manufacturer, and Mares, an Italian manufacturer of diving equipment.[2] Head Ski Company produced one of the first successful metal-wood composite downhill ski, the Head Standard, and one of the first over-sized metal tennis rackets.[3] The company is currently headquartered in Kennelbach, Austria and Amsterdam, Netherlands. HEAD NV’s ordinary shares are listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange.

Head's tennis racquets are used by many current top tennis stars such as Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Tommy Haas, Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon, Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Tomáš Berdych, Ivan Ljubičić, Mikhail Youzhny, as well as still active legends like Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Goran Ivanišević and many more. Roughly 30% of the Top 100 tennis players on the ATP Tour currently use Head tennis racquets. Their main rivals are Dunlop sport, Wilson, Prince, Völkl, Babolat, Slazenger, Tecnifibre, and Yonex.

Head is also an industry leader in racquetball, where 6 of the top 10 players on the International Racquetball Tour use Head racquets, including current world #3 Jack Huczek and racquetball legend Sudsy Monchik. Most recently, Head had started making badminton racquets and bags.

Apart from racquet sports, Head is also known for their diving equipment and skiing equipment, used by skiers such as Lindsay Vonn.

History

The company was founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1950 by aeronautical engineer Howard Head, after he took a ski trip and was astonished to see his skis were made of wood in an era when metals and plastics was replacing wood in many product designs. Head worked at the Glenn L. Martin Company where they used a form of aluminum and plastic laminate to build the fuselages of aircraft, and he felt the same material would make an ideal ski. After two years of constantly breaking skis, by the winter of 1950 they had a design that not only stayed together, but made turning dramatically easier.

The Head Standard would rapidly grow in sales through the 1950s, until it and other Head designs were capturing over 50% of the US market during the 1960s, making them the leading ski manufacturer in the U.S. and U.K.. Head resisted the change to fibreglass construction and was known for interfering in day-to-day operations. In 1967, Howard Head hired Harold Seigle as company president, and became the Chairman of the Board and CEO. Bored of the results, in 1969 Head sold the company to AMF in 1969, and took up tennis. He later bought a controlling interest in Prince Sports.

In the late 1960s, a tennis division was created when Howard Head figured out a way of strengthening the tennis racquet by introducing the aluminium frame. The idea became a success and was first introduced in the 1969 US Open. After Howard Head's departure, one of the tennis players that Head sponsored, Arthur Ashe, won Wimbledon, defeating favored Jimmy Connors in 1975. Also during the 1970s, Head acquired a diving manufacturer, Mares, and a ski binding company, Tyrolia. While under AMF ownership, Head manufactured tennis racquets in Boulder, Colorado, and Kennelbach, Austria. Also in 1969, Head signed Olympic champion ski racer Jean-Claude Killy to endorse a new metal and fiberglass ski, the Killy 800. Head subsequently developed an entire product line of Killy skis.

In 1985, Minneapolis-based Minstar Inc. acquired Head through hostile takeover of AMF.[4] Two years later, Head started making athletic footwear, and introduced the "Radial Tennis Shoes". The following year, Head opened a new plant in Austria in order to produce more tennis racquets. In 1989, management bought out Head, Tyrolia, and Mares, to form HTM. The takeover was backed by private equity firm Freeman Spogli & Co. In 1993, HTM was sold to tobacco conglomerate Austria Tabak. Johan Eliasch, the current chairman, took over the company in 1995.

In 1997, Head created the first titanium and graphite tennis racquet. Over the next two years, Head acquired three more companies, DACOR, BLAX, and Penn Racquet Sports, Inc. Penn tennis balls are used in many high profile tournaments worldwide, while Penn racquetballs are the official ball of the IRT and U.S. Racquetball Association. Penn once produced tennis balls and racquetballs in Phoenix, Arizona. In March 2009, Head shut down the Penn ball manufacturing factory. Now all tennis balls are produced in China.

Head also licenses its brand to makers of clothing apparel (including shoes), accessories, bicycles, skates, watches, balls and fitness Equipment.[5]

Head proved to be successful in 2012, with three unique Major winners during the year: Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, Maria Sharapova at the French Open and Andy Murray at the US Open.[6]

  • A Snowboarder equipped with Head Snowboard

  • A head Snowboard

  • Head snowboard on line.jpg

Head sponsorships

Alpine Skiing World Cup

Men:

Women:

Notable former skiers

Men:

Women:

Baseball

Tennis

Men

Women:

Notable former players

Men:

Women:

Squash

Men

Women:

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Annual Report 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-03-05. 
  2. ↑ "Head N.V. History". Retrieved March 28, 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Howard Head: Ski and Racquet Revolutionary". Retrieved March 28, 2013. 
  4. ↑ Daniels, Lee A. (15 June 1985). "AMF Agrees to Offer By Jacobs of $24 a Share". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2011. 
  5. ↑ http://www.head.com/corporate/licenses.php
  6. ↑ HEAD - the most successful racquet on the tennis tour in 2012 - News - Tennis - HEAD Tennis
  7. ↑ Aksel Lund Svindal - http://msn.tv2sporten.no/ovrig/lund-svindal-bytter-skimerke-faar-gullkantet-avtale-3182196.html
  8. ↑ skiracing.com - May–2010
  9. ↑ fisalpine.com - April–2011

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