Easton Sports and Bell Sports Merge, Now Easton Bell Sports
Easton Sports and Riddell Bell Holdings, parent company of Bell, Giro and Riddell, have agreed to merge their companies. The combined company will be named Easton Bell Sports.
“Riddell, Bell and Giro are all brands that are built on the same foundational values of innovation and quality that we have at Easton Sports. We will both strengthen our authentic brands and retain existing brand names on current products,” said Jim Easton, Easton’s chairman. Easton will assume chairman of the board status of the combined company.
While the two companies currently sell into the same markets, there is little product overlap. The combined Easton Bell Sports will generate more than $600 million in annual revenue, and it expects to hold leading market positions in baseball, softball, football, hockey, cycling, auto racing, and snow and motorcycle sports. The merger is expected to close during the first quarter of this year.
Easton Sports employs over 1,200 people worldwide and maintains facilities in Utah, California, Mexico, Canada and Asia. Easton Sports is a subsidiary of Jas. D. Easton Inc. Other subsidiary companies of Jas. D. Easton, including Easton Technical Products and Hoyt, are not impacted by this merger.
Riddell employs 700 people in its Chicago, Illinois and Elyria, Ohio facilities. Riddell also operates athletic reconditioning centers in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania; San Antonio, Texas, Birmingham, Alabama and San Leandro, California.
Bell Sports employs 550 people in Santa Cruz, California; Irving, Texas; Rantoul, Illinois and York, Pennsylvania. It also has a European office in Limmerk, Ireland, with Global Servicing in Hong Kong.