Liberty Media buys Backcountry.com
Alarmclock is reporting today that Liberty Media is buying out Backcountry.com. I am a huge fan of Backcountry.com. They have amazing selection and customer service and have tons and tons of affiliate relationships with other outdoor gear retailers. If you search for any sort of outdoor gear online, virtually all of the retailers you see are actually Backcountry affiliates. As the alarmclock article mentions, they are based in Park City, UT, started from scratch in ’96 and have done a great job with their entire business, including rolling out specialized sites like tramdock.com (freeride/big mountain skiing) and steepandcheap.com (highly addictive woot.com format for outdoor gear). Just last week I got an amazing deal on a high powered headlamp on steepandcheap. Stay away from that site if you like gear – it is seriously addictive! I know a bunch of folks that work at Backcountry.com and they all love it.
Apparently Jim Holland wrote this to his employees about the deal:
This past Saturday, John and I completed a transaction for the sale of the majority of Backcountry.com. Simultaneously, The Gods delivered an epic powder day at The Bird, so we consider that to be a good omen. Our new partner is Liberty Media , a large holding company that owns interests in a wide array of cutting-edge ecommerce and media companies.
John and I remain significant investors in Backcountry.com and we will remain in our positions. Liberty is an appealing partner for many reason, but first and foremost we liked the approach they use where they leave companies like ours to run ourselves. They don’t intend to make any personnel changes and they won’t be sending any employees or managers to us; no suits roaming the halls. The company will run just as it has, with the same people and the same goals and vision. Liberty’s management team loves where we’re going and they’re psyched to help us get there.
Congrats to Backcountry! Hopefully they can stay the course and continue to provide great service and great deals on great gear. I will definitely continue to be a loyal customer so long as this is the case.
