The word from Gibson:
Nashville, Tennessee…March 20, 2009…World Wide sales for musical instrument product categories in which Gibson Guitar compete have dropped more than 20% in the US and most of the world in the first quarter of 2009. While Gibson has continued to gain market share, the extent of the slowdown in retail purchases, and the uncertainty of when this market will recover mandates that Gibson makes changes to insure the size of our organization is appropriate for the anticipated sales levels. This large drop in purchases is being experienced in virtually all consumer product categories.
After implementing these changes, Gibson is positioned to continue to be profitable even under more severe stress, as it has been consistently since 1986. It will allow the company to continue to maintain a conservative balance sheet and be positioned for continued market share expansion.
Henry Juszkiewicz, CEO of Gibson Guitar Inc. stated, ”We regret that the company had to reduce our work force today to meet the economic challenges faced by our industry. We believe our streamlined team of talented people will continue to serve our valuable customers in an increasingly excellent fashion. We expect to continue to build the finest instruments in the world and lead the industry in quality and innovation.”
NIT
News
That would be “ensure.”
Surprising considering how much they’ve jacked up their prices in the past few years. Guess people aren’t quite as willing to shell out three or four grand for overpriced pieces of wood anymore.
50 + More layoffs on May 15. More like less quality and more quantity to stock up the reserves until the entire plant gets shut down or sold to some foriegn entity.The Darkfire sunk the ship all employees are suffering from that debockle. They are like the band that played on the Titanic as it went under. Next time you look at a product really check it over closely quality control is crap there big time!