I did some quick "due diligence" myself on-line yesterday and at this point I'm not terribly impressed with this proposed acquisition. From a business perspective let's look at his amateur radio products: A quick google search of "ham radio license" and ARRL products are prominent in the results, as is Romanchik, KB6NU and his "No Nonsense" series. Gordon West products are nowhere to be seen. Look up "ham radio license manual", on Amazon and our products come up, along with a few more books from others, including Ria's. Nothing about Gordon West products on the first page that I noted.
Questions: He has several "products" that are not amateur radio related. What happens to those? What happens to his website? Do we have the IT resources to absorb his brand and products into our website and a team that can support the products themselves if something happens to Gordo?
Not that ten years from now nobody will know who Gordon West is.....He's 81 years old now, and those that know him well are not spring chickens either. (Myself included, Gordo and I both worked for SBE back in the 70's). Is this a good long term investment for the League? Seems to me that we could have somebody else develop something the same as what Gordo sells for a lot less money. (What I understand is in the $200K range). Does the $200K include ARRLs internal costs of incorporating the portfolio of products into ours?
The optics to members is somewhat troubling too. "Hey members, we're taking away your printed QST, but look, we're buying a paper publishing business with the money we save". I can see more angry e-mails from members once the arsonists stoke the flames on social media. I can especially see a former Director warming up the keys already, but I hope I'm wrong there.
It's especially troubling to me that this smells like a "hostile takeover", since Gordo is apparently not aware of what's going on behind his back.
All this said, I've not seen the business case Fred and David presented to the A&F committee. There are generally two reasons for an acquisition to occur. One is that their products fill an immediate gap in product offerings, and it's sometimes faster and less expensive to buy technology than develop it organically. The second is to buy up a competitor to increase market share. It could be both here, I just don't know.
73;
Mike
W7VO
On 09/13/2023 8:17 AM PDT Famiglio, Bob, K3RF (Dir, AD) <k3rf@arrl.org> wrote:
If we are to be asked to vote on a purchase of all or part of an ongoing publishing business, we need to see the details in advance in order to digest them, form questions for the meeting and consider how to vote. Rubber stamping someone else’s recommendation is not a good practice exercising the duties of the office of a director.
If a proposed agreement has a significant price tag and has been rough drafted for discussion, that also will be helpful to review terms and conditions. Our league has been down this road in the last decade or so with respect to contract approvals which did not turn out well because the devil was in the details not considered or identified. Let’s jog our institutional memory in that regard. A few days to study the proposed transaction terms before a vote is necessary. Anyone else agree or are we not expected to approve an agreement to proceed yet?
Bob Famiglio, K3RF
ARRL Atlantic Division Director
610-359-7300
www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF
From: arrl-odv <arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org> On Behalf Of k5ur--- via arrl-odv
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2023 6:24 PM
To: arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org <arrl-odv@arrl.org>
Subject: [arrl-odv:35184] Special Board Meeting - Monday, September 18
Thus far I have 13 Directors requesting a special Board meeting regarding the request of the A&F Committee concerning a business opportunity. Therefore, we will have a special Board next Monday, September 18, at 8:00 PM Eastern time.
Zoom info will be provided prior to that time.
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