Active Boarder Corp., an affiliate of Active Sports, Inc., has agreed to the purchase of sierrasnowboard.com, its inventory, and other properties.
Active Boarder Corp. has entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Michael Anthony Management, Inc. (MAMI) to purchase substantially all of MAMI's assets which include the website sierrasnowboard.com. MAMI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June and has been in negotiations with Active Boarder Corp. since that time. Northern District Court of San Jose, California approved the sale, subject and certain closing conditions on September 28.
The agreement will allow Active Boarder, Inc. to maintain the e-commerce platform, community forums, and other portions of the Sierra Snowboard web presence that they have used to differentiate themselves over the past several years. Sierra Snowboard is noted for having one of the larger online presences in the winter sports industry with a roster of over 270 thousand users registered for their online community. Users discuss many facets of the industry, generate content such as product reviews and sport instructionals, and provide each other a place to sound off about the latest trends in snowboarding.
Steve Poindexter, President of Active Boarder Corp. had this to say about the deal: “We're very excited about this opportunity to strengthen this peer to peer dominated site. Our plans are that the vibrant Sierra Snowboard community will carry on intact and will have the opportunity to grow and continue to be a strong customer voice in the industry.”
“Our first order of business is to repair any damage that these last few months of uncertainty may have brought,” Poindexter adds. “By joining forces and providing the best customer service, fulfillment, and product selection in the industry, we believe that our customers will find themselves more pleased than ever before about their shopping experience.”
Active Boarder Corp. has affirmed that even though several changes will need to be made to satisfy vendor relationship agreements including a name change to TruSnow (http://www.trusnow.com).
“The name change enables us to get every snowboard brand on board,” says Poindexter.
The company is committed to keeping the Sierra Snowboard community and online catalog strong by retaining most of the current staff.
“We will be doing everything to preserve and enhance the strong sense of community that has been the hallmark of Sierra Snowboards. Some of our plans include exciting options such as the addition of new action sports product lines,” Poindexter said.
The agreement has the full support of the vendor community as well as the existing Sierra Snowboard staff.
Donald Fierros, VP of Operations at sierrasnowboard.com said of the agreement: “Great, love it, awesome – we are all very excited about the changes with the new ownership and to continue moving forward together.”
Final filing on the agreement is scheduled for completion on or before October 12, 2010.
