Jacobs: We got fat, but we won’t again

Posted on 01 May 2010

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Genmar founder looks to the future while shouldering the blame for a 'bloated' corporate structure

Irwin Jacobs says he's learned a lot from the bankruptcy liquidation of the boating empire he spent years building.

"I'm never going to allow a corporate structure to ever get in the way of making our business a success," says the Genmar founder. "I allowed this thing to get out of hand, with too many brands competing against one another, allowing too big of a corporate structure - bloated corporate structure - that really didn't bring much value at all to our businesses and just created more confusion and cost."

Jacobs says it took a "tsunami" to wake him up to the problems in his own company. "I complained openly many times about Brunswick," he says - something for which he says he has since apologized to Brunswick CEO Dustan McCoy.

"I should have looked in the mirror myself before I started talking about [McCoy's Brunswick]. We were nowhere near the size of what his [company] was from a corporate structure, but on a relative basis we were every bit as bad as anything I was saying to them. A pox on my own, so to speak. I was calling the kettle black."

Now, nearly a year after filing for bankruptcy protection with Genmar, Jacobs' new company with partner John Paul DeJoria - J&D Acquisitions - owns six of the former Genmar brands.

"I assure you I'll never allow our companies to ever become overleveraged again as we did in the Genmar situation," Jacobs wrote in a letter to dealers and others. "I'm excited to tell you that we're not only back in the boat business, but that we're positioned better today both financially and organizationally than at any other time, even prior to the industry's recent downturn."

Up and running

J&D Acquisitions now owns the Larson, FinCraft, Seaswirl, Triumph, Marquis and Carver brands. The latter two - Carver and Marquis - are built in Pulaski, Wis.; Larson, Seaswirl and FinCraft are manufactured in Little Falls, Minn.

Jacobs says plans are in place to move Triumph production from Durham, N.C., to the Little Falls facility. The move, he says, will put Triumph close to where J&D hopes to do much of its future business with that brand, including programs set up between Triumph and fishing camps in Canada.

The other lines, Jacobs says, are up and running and doing well. In his letter, he notes that Al Kuebelbeck is president of the Little Falls-produced brands, and Bob VanGrunsven is president of the Marquis and Carver yacht companies.

There are about 190 people now working at the Little Falls factory and about 150 in Pulaski. Jacobs expects both facilities will be hiring more people as business improves.

Dealers, he says, are coming on board and putting in orders.

"We've been signing on new dealers at a rate that we haven't seen in quite some time," he says. "Apparently there are many dealers that have been on the sidelines watching and waiting to see how everything was going to play out in relationship to Genmar's situation."

There are an estimated 135 Larson dealers, 54 Seaswirl dealers, 61 FinCraft dealers, 45 Triumph dealers and 30 Marquis/Carver dealers. Jacobs says his lines have a backlog of 800 boats.