This image has no relevance to the article but it’s McCrank’s profile image in Nixon’s team section and is awesome.

Billabong had offloaded half of its share in Nixon a while back to hold back the banks for a little while. About a month ago, they got rid of the remaining 48.5% and didn’t think it necessary to let the market know.

Being that the business was valued at $460 million not that long ago, you’d be pretty confident in thinking that they got a tidy eight to nine figure sum for it, right? Nope – they gave it away. The “restructure” as it is being called, meant that Billabong avoided a commitment to source $150 million in product over the next four years, for that they reduced their holding to 4.85%, which they gave back to Nixon to avoid a $3 million payment due to them next year.

It’s a pretty interesting situation – but I’d just like it to be known to Billabong management, if you are planning on handing out any more rad businesses for nothing, I’ve got my eyes on RVCA. Read this awesome article from The Australian for more.