Just an observation, but don’t look for a buyer for TaylorMade Golf until after the Acushnet Co. IPO. I have to believe any potential buyer of TaylorMade is waiting until it sees the IPO price of Acushnet, parent of the Titleist and FootJoy brands, in order to gauge the marketplace.
Acushnet IPO could impact sale of TaylorMade Golf
Another observation: Once it’s a public company and is accountable to a stock price, Acushnet will have to play by a slightly different set of rules than it has been used to the past several years. One of those ways likely will be to increase its product cycles across the Titleist and FootJoy brands. Wouldn’t be surprised to see some specific game-improvement clubs coming from Fairhaven, Mass., in the next couple of years.
The Titleist 917 line of drivers and metal woods will out later this year, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see another line of drivers and metals, possibly as early as next year, to help Acushnet grow its club business.
Sales of the Titleist golf clubs in 2015, by the way, was $388 million, down eight percent from 2014. Titleist golf ball sales in 2015 were $535 million, down 1.5 percent from 2014.
