Fox Factory, which makes some of the best suspension forks and shocks, has recently announced, like almost all the major brands, a sharp decline in sales in its cycling-related businesses. Blaming higher levels of inventory across various channels – aka too much stock and nobody buying. Fox announced sales had been expected to hit a "low water mark" in the third quarter, but the results were $25 million lower than the company expected and saw a drop in net sales of 58 percent from $173.9 million last year to $72 million this year.
Fox Factory seems to be covering all its bases by announcing the $572 million purchase of baseball brand Marucci, along with Marucci’s parent company, Wheelhouse Holdings, Inc., from Compass Diversified. Marucci owns Lizard Skins, which started as a bar tape company in Utah almost over 30 years ago, but now has an extensive range of mountain bike grips, gloves and protective frame wraps as well as selling grip tape for bats and racquets.
