Again, we feed off the great stuff View from the Deadbox diggs up – you guys should all subscribe to that.
There has been a few notions that Wal-Mart would not be distributing JT products anymore, and as JT has received over half of its sales through Wal-Mart, the company suffers a hard blow. Hard enough that it might even be forced to close down. For us older guys, this is really sad bit of gossip as JT and Scott were the first really big equipment manufacturers in the sport and were big contributors in the initial growth of paintball.
I feel that this is partially created by the bigger conglomerates gathering a ton of “portfolio companies” that they run to optimize the profitability of the whole portfolio – somewhat distorting the perspective on individual companies and their respective niches. Many saw the entry of the conglomerates and corporate financing as a blessing and a source of infinite dumping of cash to the sport of paintball, many had their suspicions.
It seems that now when the economic downturn is the deepest the corporate “clean-up” operations leave the marginal industries adrift, and without the determination and drive of a committed entrepreneur or owners the companies lack the animal survival instincts that seem to keep a lot of the small companies hanging on to dear life.
Tough it out guys, It can’t rain all the time.
EDIT: ProPaintball.com posted up this correction to their earlier news about JT:
Earlier this afternoon incorrect information was published regarding JT USA. We have since spoken with Chuck Geiling of JT who cleared up the confusion. Chuck went on to let us know that JT is back and better than ever. We would like to apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
This is nice to hear, two thumbs up and let’s hope that JT does return even stronger. Still, keep toughing it out!
