It’s not every day you meet a chief executive officer named "Punkass." Especially one who runs a $200 million company.
The heavily tattooed, bandana-wearing CEO fits right in at TapouT, a 140-employee clothing company in Grand Terrace, Calif., that caters to athletes and fans of mixed martial arts, a combat sport known for its brutality.
Apart from the name, what makes Punkass and his co-founders unique is the commitment they made more than a decade ago to a sport that was then virtually unknown. They took a gamble on a market that barely existed.
The risk? If the market didn’t grow, TapouT would have nowhere to go. The reward? If the market exploded, they would be the first ones in.
Back in 1997, TapouT’s three co-founders — Dan "Punkass" Caldwell, Charles "Mask" Lewis and Tim "Skyskrape" Katz — had no college degrees and little money. But all three had trained in mixed martial arts and were ardent fans of the sport. They were confident that someday, the sport would be accepted — even embraced — by a mainstream audience.
So they took the kind of leap that would make little sense to anyone but their fellow true believers: They maxed out their credit cards to start a small operation selling t-shirts at underground mixed martial arts competitions.
Back then, mixed martial arts was still a fledgling movement, well under the radar of other apparel companies. Today, it’s almost as mainstream as boxing — and TapouT’s block-letter logo has become synonymous with the sport.
The company sponsors well-known fighters like Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko and Thiago "Pitbull" Alves. (Along with tattoos and bulging biceps, nicknames are a must-have for practitioners of mixed martial arts). TapouT also sells clothing, mouth guards, nutritional supplements and other branded goods online and at retail chains including Macy’s and Champs Sports.
All those t-shirts and vitamins add up fast. Last year, TapouT raked in $200 million in annual revenue — more than 16 times its $12 million revenue in 2006.
So how does TapouT keep the mixed martial arts market in a headlock? Customers say it’s the early relationship the company developed with both fighters and fans.
"They’ve been right in the mix from the beginning," says Andrew Lang, co-owner of Lightning MMA, a mixed martial arts gym in Laguna Hills, Calif. "Those three guys were at all the events — they have this presence, this rapport with the fighters."
In the late ’90s, TapouT sponsored fledgling fighters for $300 a pop. Nowadays, sponsorships cost anywhere from $3,000 to $1 million.
"We have a full team dealing with our fighters and their managers 24/7," says Punkass. "We’re worried about their personal lives, too. How’s their new baby? How do they feel after a fight?"
The goal is to get fighters to wear TapouT gear in and out of the ring. That, in turn, has given the company mass appeal among fans — which come mainly from the sought-after 18- to 34-year-old male demographic guaranteed payday loans.
"I don’t know who’s more fanatic, mixed martial arts people or NASCAR people," says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, a market research firm. "But in either case, when you’re that fanatical there is a tremendous allegiance to a brand, and it’s all about the lifestyle. It’s almost like a club."
To make sure that club keeps growing, Punkass, Mask and Skyskrape brought a seasoned entrepreneur, Marc Kreiner, on board in 2006. Kreiner had a varied background — he launched disco bands in the ’70s and more recently started an infomercial company — but he helped bring TapouT products to over 20,000 stores worldwide. He also inked a handful of licensing agreements, including a line of TapouT-branded supplements with Champion Nutrition.
"We’re licensing a nutrition line, energy drinks and TapouT gyms," says Kreiner, now the president and chairman of TapouT. "The motto is ‘Grow big or go home.’"
But TapouT’s evolution had its low ebbs. In 2009, co-founder Mask — known for his big personality and signature face paint — died in a car crash. Kreiner, Punkass and Skrape were leveled by the loss of their friend and colleague. Many TapouT employees got commemorative tattoos in Mask’s honor with the word "believe."
Punkass says that Mask’s death has been the company’s biggest challenge to date. But TapouT has other, less tragic troubles. While mixed martial arts has toned down the violence a bit in recent years — the rules, for example, no longer permit biting and eye-gouging — some lingering controversy about the sport’s roughness could limit the growth of its fanbase, which is TapouT’s main audience.
A handful of smaller companies have also entered in the mixed martial arts apparel industry, including Dethrone Royalty Clothing and Hitman Fight Gear. But when it comes to the competition, TapouT’s main threat is much bigger players, like Nike and Adidas.
So could TapouT be the next sports apparel giant, akin to Under Armour?
It’s unlikely, suggests Cohen, the NPD Group analyst. But for the moment, at least, the company doesn’t have significant competitors vying for a share of the same market, he notes. And there’s plenty of room to grow: The overall sports apparel market rakes in $12 billion a year in the United States alone.
As TapouT lends its name to more and more products, the company runs the risk of diluting its brand and losing "street cred" with its loyal fan base. But Punkass isn’t worried about that.
"I don’t see ourselves making TapouT Ken and Barbie dolls anytime soon," he says. "We won’t make a product unless it connects to our core audience. We stay true to the brand."
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Webcor will start construction in August on the $55 million renovation of San Francisco’s Moscone Center.
The renovation work, which is being managed by Jones Lang LaSalle, will include cosmetic improvements to the main exhibit halls — A, B and C — and minor HVAC work in the North meeting rooms. A second phase of work is slated to begin in December with cosmetic upgrades to selected restrooms to bring them into compliance with the American Disabilities Act. The second phase will also include renovation of meeting rooms in Moscone North.
Built in 1981 and expanded in 1991 and again in 2003, the 20-acre Moscone Center convention complex consists of three main buildings – Moscone North, South and West – totaling more than two million square feet and offering 740,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space.
Construction and cosmetic improvement work will be timed to avoid any disruption to the facility, Jones Lang LaSalle said.
The renovation is being funded through a public-private partnership between the City of San Francisco and the San Francisco Tourism Improvement District Management Corporation (SFTID), a privately-funded group formed by local hotels specifically to make improvements to the Moscone Center and to promote tourism in San Francisco.
The city is providing $35 million toward the total cost of renovations with the SFTID generating an additional $20 million through a self- assessment of San Francisco hotels.
“Moscone Center is an integral part of San Francisco’s biggest economic driver – tourism – and this forward-thinking program promoted by the City and SFTID is critical for maintaining the facility’s competitiveness in the coming years,” said Steven Kahn, Senior VP and regional operations manager with JLL’s project and development services group in Northern California payday loans.
Kahn added that in addition to the phased renovation of the facility, Jones Lang LaSalle would also be looking at ways to improve the convention center’s energy efficiency making Moscone more sustainable and paving the way for LEED certification during future phases of improvement to the facility.
More than a third of visitors to San Francisco attend a convention or meeting in the city, and Moscone Center is by far the biggest venue for such meetings, according to the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau. Moscone Center has hosted major national meetings such as MacWorld, OpenWorld and Oracle’s national convention as well as major West Coast events such as the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC).
“In 2009, San Francisco welcomed 15.4 million visitors, which represents a 5.8 percent decrease from 2008. Visitor spending was $7.8 billion, a decrease of 7.8 percent from the previous year,” said Dan Kelleher, chair of the San Francisco Tourism Improvement District. “The renovation of Moscone Center will be a critical component to attracting new and repeat convention business to San Francisco by providing an enhanced delegate experience.”
Jones Lang LaSalle’s Project and Development Services group provides single or multi-site project management expertise for new construction, renovation and interior improvements of a wide variety of buildings and other structures for owners and corporate users as well as public agencies in the U.S. and globally.
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ESPN The Magazine’s 2010 Ultimate Standings ranked the Orlando Magic first among all National Basketball Association teams in fan experience.
In addition, the Magic ranked second among all professional sports franchises — which includes the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the NBA and National Hockey League — based on a variety of categories such as the affordability of the experience, the quality of the team’s play and the treatment of the fans.
The Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints finished first overall, one spot ahead of the Magic paydayloans.
According to the ESPN rankings, the Magic ranked first among all 122 teams in bang for the buck, defined as wins during the past three years per revenues directly from fans, adjusted for league schedules.
The Magic also ranked 13th in fan relations, 22nd in affordability, 18th in coaching, 18th in ownership, 20th in players, 33rd in title track and 96th in stadium experience.
The FBI is investigating a security breach of AT&T’s website that allowed hackers to access the e-mail addresses of iPad owners.
"The FBI is aware of these possible computer intrusions," an FBI spokesman said in an e-mailed statement. "We have opened an investigation to address the potential cyber threat." The Bureau did not comment on the scope of its investigation.
A hacker group called Goatse Security exploited a vulnerability on AT&T’s website to harvest the e-mail addresses that iPad 3G buyers provided to activate their devices. The group sent the information to tech and gossip blog Gawker, which reported that 114,000 e-mail addresses were exposed.
Without commenting on the vast scope of the alleged hack, AT&T (T, Fortune 500) acknowledged taking action to fix a security hole online payday advance.
The exposure connected subscribers’ e-mail addresses with their iPad ICC IDs, a unique identification number used to link devices with their owners. AT&T linked them so that users of Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) 3G version of the iPad would not have to type in their e-mail addresses every time they wanted to access or change their AT&T account and billing settings.
AT&T said e-mail addresses were the only information that could have been exposed as a result of the glitch, and that it will inform all customers who may have been affected. The company would not comment on the FBI investigation.
Attorney General Bill McCollum announced a settlement with Certegy Check Services Inc. over allegations the company did not provide adequate data security for consumer records.
Under the settlement, Certegy will ensure that safeguards are in place to protect consumer data, a release said. The company will maintain a comprehensive “Information Security Program” that assess internal and external risks to consumers’ personal information, implements safeguards to protect that information, and regularly monitors and tests the effectiveness of those safeguards.
Certegy also will contribute $125,000 to the Attorney General’s Seniors vs. Crime Program and will pay $850,000 for the state’s investigative costs and attorney’s fees, the release said.
Certegy reported in July 2007 that a former company employee had stolen customer data. Certegy notified authorities and consumers, the release said. The former employee, William Sullivan, subsequently was convicted of fraud and is serving a 57-month sentence in federal prison.
Certegy, based in St. Petersburg, is a subsidiary of Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (NYSE: FIS), headquartered in Jacksonville.
Healthcare Trust of America Inc. has bought Sugar Land Medical Building II from Houston-based The Mission Cos. for approximately $12.4 million.
The 60,000-square-foot building is located at 15400 Southwest Freeway South, at the northwest corner of U.S. Highway 59 and Sugar Lakes Boulevard.
Sugar Land Medical Building II is located within one mile of several acute-care hospitals including Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital and Sugar Land Medical Center.
The three-story building is 100 percent leased with 83 percent of the space leased by Texas Children’s Hospital through 2019.
The real estate investment trust said it acquired the three-story building because of the quality of the main tenant and the facility’s proximity to three hospitals in Sugar Land.
The building was developed by Mission Equities Inc. with two floors in 1999 cash advances pay day loan. A third floor was added to the structure in 2006.
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Healthcare Trust is a self-managed, publicly registered, non-traded REIT.
This marks the second area acquisition for the company, which acquired the Cypress Station Medical Office Building in March 2008.
Mark Engstrom, executive vice president of acquisitions for Healthcare Trust of America, said this acquisition expands the company’s Texas healthcare portfolio to approximately 965,000 square feet with a total investment of approximately $275 million.
In 2010, HTA has acquired approximately $88 million in medical office assets nationally. These assets include a total of four acquisitions, representing approximately 454,000 square feet.
Less than half of voters in the Austin Business Journal's latest online survey said the city lives up to its self-proclaimed "live music capital" name.
Of the 635 that voted in the unscientific poll, 36 percent said the city doesn't live up to its reputation, while 15 percent said they weren't sure. The poll generated many comments, both agreeing and refuting the title. About 49 percent voted "yes" the city is the nation's live music capital.
"In the late 90's it may have been for a minute. Nowadays the new Austin doesn't care about live music bad credit personal loan lenders. They prefer DJ Dance Clubs," one commenter said.
Another responded to one commenter saying the city only has cover bands.
"Obviously written by someone not familiar with the music scene in Austin that ventures only as far out to see cover bands at frat bars. Suggest you go see (and support) some of the real music that is being created in this town," the commenter said.
To view the full results, click here.
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit offered a bold outlook for his troubled firm Thursday, saying he hoped his company would soon be able to deliver profits of approximately $20 billion.
Pandit, speaking at a company-sponsored conference, did not give a time frame for when the bank would generate this profit. He did stress however that the company would be able to earn big returns on the assets within its Citicorp division, which oversees both its investment bank and consumer banking businesses.
"It is time to shift our focus to the future which is Citicorp," he told an audience in New York.
The company split itself into two parts in January 2009 - Citicorp and Citi Holdings - as part of an effort to get the beleaguered bank back on track.
Citi Holdings, which was created as a dumping ground for its so-called "troubled assets", controls roughly $547 billion worth of assets. Losses within that division widened to $2.4 billion during fourth quarter of last year.
Capturing large profits within its Citicorp business though could offset any troubles within its Citi Holdings division.
It would also be a significant turnaround from the severe losses the bank has endured since the start of the crisis. During 2008 alone, Citigroup lost $27.7 billion.
The company already reached one major milestone late last year after paying back the $45 billion it received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.
U.S. taxpayers however, still own a 27% stake in the company.
At a hearing in Washington last week, a Treasury Department official said the agency planned to dispose of its remaining stake in the firm "as soon as possible."
Pandit noted Thursday that the government will not be able to sell any of its shares until at least later this month when a lock-up on Citigroup stock expires. Treasury would also have to give notice if it indeed planned to sell at least part of its stake.
"Given where the economy is, given where the stock is, I wouldn’t be surprised if they would think about doing that," said Pandit.
Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) shares gained nearly 5% in afternoon trading Thursday. The stock has gained nearly 20% so far this week.
Defense contractor Technica Corp. expects to double its presence in Columbia by the fall as it expands from Northern Virginia into Greater Baltimore.
As the Baltimore Business Journal reported Friday, the company has leased a 7,600-square-foot facility at the Columbia Gateway business park in Howard County.
Mark O’Donnell, senior vice president of business development for Technica, said his company plans to expand its space at 6750 Alexander Bell Drive to 14,000 square feet by the fall. By then the Dulles, Va.-based company hopes to have hired or shifted as many as 45 workers to the area.
The timing of the company’s move, and others like it, has been a matter of much debate among the region’s real estate and economic development community since 2005.
That’s because Technica is one of dozens of defense contractors to the federal Defense Information Systems Agency, an arm of the U.S. Defense Department focused on communication part of the Pentagon focused on cyber security and other areas of information technology.
DISA is relocating from Arlington, Va., to Fort George G. Meade in Anne Arundel County as part of the Pentagon’s Base Realignment and Closure plan. BRAC, as the plan is known, is expected to bring about 25,000 government and private contracting jobs to Central Maryland. The bulk of those jobs are being shifted to Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County. The BRAC moves are slated to be completed by September 2011.
The shift should create a significant demand for new homes, office space, restaurants and shops supporting the new workers. But few of those moves have taken place yet, leaving many developers to wonder when to expect the demand for those new projects will pick up.
Several projects have been put on hold until that happens, and many developers have been unable to finance their projects until they have signed tenants to take space in them.
The government’s Christmas Eve pledge of unlimited financial aid to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is aimed at making sure the housing market doesn’t take another turn for the worse and cause the economic recovery to unravel.
This insurance policy taken out by the Treasury Department will help keep mortgage rates low, and may wind up being a gift of sorts to struggling homeowners and banks. But there’s a catch: the housing crisis is now likely to cost taxpayers much more.
The Obama administration’s latest lifeline to Fannie and Freddie will cover unlimited losses through 2012, lifting an earlier cap of $400 billion. It also eases restrictions on the size of the companies’ investment portfolios. That’s a reversal of the Bush administration’s September 2008 plan to shrink the size of the companies’ holdings of mortgage-backed securities.
The action, which didn’t need the approval of Congress, could position Fannie and Freddie to get more aggressive in dealing with the housing crisis, perhaps taking troubled mortgage investments off banks’ books.
"They’ve cleared the decks to use Fannie and Freddie as a vessel for whatever they want," says Edward Pinto, a housing consultant who served as Fannie’s chief credit officer in the late 1980s.
The Treasury could also lean harder on Fannie and Freddie to help troubled homeowners avoid foreclosures — and by extension the banks and other investors who own their mortgages.
Many economists and housing experts say an existing $75 billion government program to prevent foreclosures isn’t working fast enough, threatening the emerging signs of home price stability in many cities across the nation.
Boosting the firepower of Fannie and Freddie, which finance three-quarters of all new mortgages, also should help keep rates on home loans low just as the Federal Reserve starts dialing back its separate $1.25 trillion program aimed at doing just that.
That’s good news for the banking industry, which benefited in 2009 from homeowners refinancing their mortgages, says Jason O’Donnell, senior research analyst at Boenning & Scattergood Inc. "This is an initiative that spreads far beyond just Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," he says.
But the trade-off is that the Treasury will have to cover much more than the $111 billion in losses at Fannie and Freddie it already has funded. Barclays Capital predicts the losses will range from $230 billion to $300 billion.
Both companies provide vital funding for home loans, buying mortgages from lenders, pooling them into bonds and selling them to investors with a guarantee against default.
While they traditionally backed loans to relatively safe buyers, they dramatically lowered their standards during the housing boom, and those loans are now defaulting in higher numbers.
If the administration leans on Fannie and Freddie to expand its foreclosure-prevention program, it would be pricey. If Fannie and Freddie were, hypothetically, to start forgiving a quarter of borrowers’ mortgage debt, that would cost another $125 billion to help 2.5 million to 3 million borrowers, estimates Barclays analyst Ajay Rajadhyaksha.
The Treasury Department says its only motivation is to make sure investors remain confident that Fannie and Freddie can keep doing their jobs of buying the bulk of mortgages made in the U.S. and turning them into investments.
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