CHUCKIES N LOVE

Nike will buy storied shoe firm Converse: Chuck Taylor maker in cash-debt deal (Ross Kerber, 7/10/2003, Boston Globe)

The basketball sneakers worn by Larry Bird and Michael Jordan will find themselves on the same team after Nike Inc. said last night it has agreed to acquire Converse Inc. of North Andover.

Nike, based in Beaverton, Ore., valued the deal at $305 million, saying it consisted of an undisclosed amount of cash as well as the assumption of debt.

Founded in 1908, Converse's simple canvas Chuck Taylor high-tops became one of the most storied athletic products and were worn by many Boston Celtics, including Bird. But beginning in the 1980s the company failed to keep up with the emergence of Nike's new shoe technologies, not to mention the marketing machine it developed behind Chicago Bulls star Jordan.

The investment group that bought Converse out of bankruptcy in 2001 for $117 million had put a management team in place, and those managers will stay on, including chief executive Jack Boys, Joani Komlos, a Nike spokeswoman said. Nike will run Converse as a separate unit.

How about just getting the price of Chuck Taylor's back under $20, where it belongs? The Mother Judd couldn't have afforded groceries if our All-Stars, which last about a month when you're a kid, had cost this much. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 12, 2003 11:39 AM