Hooked On Golf Blog

Is the end of Titleist coming?

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf Balls • Golf Clubs • Golf Equipment • Golf Gear
Tags: Titleist

Stock up now?

I’m freaking out a bit I’ll admit. But reading the latest article on Bloomberg really made this possible scenario hit home.

Fortune Brands has enlisted Morgan Stanley to run an auction of their golf division. There’s a possibility that when Fortune Brands sells off, a.k.a. breaks up its golf division (which includes Titleist, FootJoy and Pinnacle), that someone such as Nike, Adidas or some other entity with about $1.5 billion bucks to spend could buy it and absorb it into their brand. You can be damn sure that if Adidas or Nike bought it, they’d can the Titleist name in a heartbeat.

That scenario would be a shame. The golf world without the Titleist brand is tough to imagine. But I guess business is business.

4 responses to “Is the end of Titleist coming?”

martin says:

January 5, 2011 at 11:36 pm

I think that if Adidas were to buy Titleist that we probably would see the end of the brand.

Nike, on the other hand, probably would not want to do away with the brand. Nike could finally match Adidas/TaylorMade by having Titleist. Nike has been harmed by it’s so close relationship to Tiger, by taking in Titleist, they get to have a top brand and a huge market share without the stain of Tiger, and they could even keep Nike Golf and maintain both brands and a huge market share.

Then the question of what happens with Callaway – which would be the last of the top 4 brands without a parent company with deep pockets. I think that Callaway and Under Amour need to seriously consider merging or having Callaway be purchased by Under Armour. That woud provide UA with a very strong brand an an big share of the golf markets which they have wanted to move into.
Jim Knoll says:

January 6, 2011 at 12:05 am

Titleist brand will never go away. The name itself is way too valuable for any company buying it to lose the sales it generates.
Legalbgl says:

January 7, 2011 at 8:10 am

The REASON to spend 1.5 BIllion + for the line is for the brand. It won’t go away, it will just be another division of one of those companies. If say TaylorMade bought it what would they care if you bought a Titleist or a TaylorMade? Wither way the company gets the cash.
golfman says:

January 18, 2011 at 7:30 pm

I don’t think that it will ever go away it might lose tour players but won’t go away.

Check out my blog that I started to help golfers get better without spending much money.

golfonabudget.blogspot.com/

Thanks