Guitar Gear Forum

Look like bad news for employees and customers....
Chuck Surack steps down as CEO, stays as board chairman. Private equity firm buys majority stake.
https://fortwayneworldpress.com/2021/08 ... ownership/

Response from Chuck... posted on reddit...

I am in a board meeting all day, so I don’t have a chance to read the reddit thread. That being said, I wanted to respond right away.

I am very excited for Sweetwater and our customers, as well as my family, and our community about this deal. Providence are truly great people. I understand the reputation that some PE firms have. These guys are one of the good ones. They love our culture, they love our people and they understand what makes us successful. The acquired us because they want to help us grow and get better. They do not want to cut anything. In fact, they are pushing us to grow faster.

Please understand my wife and I still own a huge amount of the business and I remain as a Chairman of the board. When I started this process it was important to me to find partners who valued the same things I did. After all, it was my “baby”. I wanted someone who would leave our business in Fort Wayne, who would respect our philosophies and our people and customers. I am confident that Providence meets every one of these pillars. Watch over the next few years and I am certain you will see Sweetwater only get stronger.


The guys at the PE firm "love our culture, they love our people and they understand what makes us successful"
LOL!!! Those sharks will say what ever they have to, to close a deal.
Hopefully, they aren't planning "cost cutting layoffs", driving stock prices up, just so they can unload their shares for a quick profit.

Chuck also owns a luxury car dealership, and a helicopter company and is bigly into aviation...

https://www.sweetcars.com/
https://www.sweetaviation.com/
https://www.sweethelicopters.com/

I remember a similar letter at Musicians Friend from the owner when he sold out to Guitar Center.

Interesting...

Hopefully Sweetwater doesn't change too drastically - from a customer or employee perspective.

Once the VCs start circling, it's only a matter of time. They can say whatever they want on the face of it, but those types of investment folks think in terms of one thing and one thing only. $$$$$$$$$$$$ > all. So long as Sweetwater looks like a sure lock to increase profits every quarter from here to eternity, they might, *MIGHT* be fine. Show the slightest sign of a dip and the investors will start pushing and next thing you know it's buh-bye decency and hello bankruptcy.

from everything I've read about Chuck is that he is a hard working honest and God fearing man . I would bet they'll all be just fine . But as we've heard it's no cake walk working for Sweetwater . You gotta play their game and play it well or bye bye .

It's a store that sells music equipment. As long as people keep buying their stuff because of the above par service, everything should be fine.

GC and MF failed because they fucking suck. Crappy stores. Crappy employees(in general.) Crappy service. Crappy gear. They kept pushing shittier and shittier gear since the margins were higher. This started long before the VC vultures showed up.

I don't blame Chuck for taking a billion dollar payday. He's getting older. He would rather be a professional philanthropist.

Seriously, I buy from SW because of their extremely generous warranty. My Pigtronix E2D and Warm Preamp both broke. SW fixed them for free. No questions asked. I'm talking a few years after the purchase.

All of my Sweetwater purchases, which are admittedly not enough, are due to their stellar employees.

I agree with Gene 100%. He created generational wealth and I'm sure running it full time is a chore. Any analyst worth their salt would have noted their ascent over competitors was due to their service and winning attitude.

Figured this'd show up here at some point. As the known SW employee here (2002-present), I feel like I should comment...


I'm not going to disclose any more intimate detail than what's been disclosed, but I can tell you this, as someone who's been around a long time.


This isn't like GC/MF. There's no looming bankruptcy. We grew over 40% last year and crossed the $1B mark, & were in Forbes, Rolling Stone, etc as an example of the booming industry. SW is extremely profitable, and this partnership was sought out to provide even more growth. Chuck is still very involved. We're all excited about it. The situation here is basically business as usual, but with a ton more working capital, even than before.


...and yeah Ajax, there's the Sweet Family of Companies. Pretty cool! That's how I got my Private Pilot license!


https://www.sweetfamilyofcompanies.com/

I had always said that I would love to work at Sweetwater!

The article says, that Chuck is no longer the majority shareholder. That's a bit worrisome but, I'm sure he has a lifetime contract and can't be voted out as Chair.

I heard yesterday that Mike Lennon is coming back to Sweetwater. Leaving Utah

Loop wrote:Figured this'd show up here at some point. As the known SW employee here (2002-present), I feel like I should comment...


I'm not going to disclose any more intimate detail than what's been disclosed, but I can tell you this, as someone who's been around a long time.


This isn't like GC/MF. There's no looming bankruptcy. We grew over 40% last year and crossed the $1B mark, & were in Forbes, Rolling Stone, etc as an example of the booming industry. SW is extremely profitable, and this partnership was sought out to provide even more growth. Chuck is still very involved. We're all excited about it. The situation here is basically business as usual, but with a ton more working capital, even than before.


...and yeah Ajax, there's the Sweet Family of Companies. Pretty cool! That's how I got my Private Pilot license!


https://www.sweetfamilyofcompanies.com/