patm300e
Well so much for my "Lifetime" updates...

They didn't specify "whose" lifetime. 
 

Making money in the music instrument business is tough. I hope they can pull out of it. Might need to make some tough decisions to right the ship. 

I'm blown away that they are paying such high interest in today's market:
 
You can check this out yourself in the FINRA database. The basics here are:

• Gibson Brands has taken $375 million from investors.
• The coupon to investors is 8.875%, already high-yield (junk) territory that assumes a risk default.
• They offered the debt around August 1, 2013, and it matures after five years of paying the coupon, meaning they owe their investors back the principal.
• Both Moody’s and Standard & Poors have downgraded the ratings on this debt very recently.
• The secondary bond market has been FREAKING OUT, dumping these bonds on speculators for cheap. That spike of yield this summer means that original investors were selling their bonds to secondary investors for half of what they paid. If they gave Gibson $100, they sold those bonds to another guy for $50, meaning they were afraid to lose even more of it if they waited until August 1, 2018.
• This means that investors roughly estimate that there’s a one-in-four chance that either Gibson won’t make all its coupon payments or return all the money it owes, a.k.a. default.

 
Rocky

I think it is important to be mindful of our hosts here...I mean, how would you like it if friends you invite into your home start talking about your job security etc. ?
Sonar is a great product, Cakewalk has been more than fair, certainly by by no small measure (imho), ahead of some of the horror stories we have heard at the hands of at least a few of the competitors - if anything, this would be a time to rally around the brand with our moral support at the very least.
 

LaszloZoltan
I think it is important to be mindful of our hosts here...I mean, how would you like it if friends you invite into your home start talking about your job security etc. ?
Sonar is a great product, Cakewalk has been more than fair, certainly by by no small measure (imho), ahead of some of the horror stories we have heard at the hands of at least a few of the competitors - if anything, this would be a time to rally around the brand with our moral support at the very least.

I really don't think anyone here is cheering at the demise of Gibson.

Not at all! I have complete confidence in all the various companies, even if I wonder where Gibson is going at times.
Cakewalk? I have no doubt that their "star" will continue to shine brighter and brighter.
RE CW folks? I wish them all the best, because the happier they are, the more exciting SPLAT etc et al, gets.
Michael

LaszloZoltan
I think it is important to be mindful of our hosts here...I mean, how would you like it if friends you invite into your home start talking about your job security etc. ?
Sonar is a great product, Cakewalk has been more than fair, certainly by by no small measure (imho), ahead of some of the horror stories we have heard at the hands of at least a few of the competitors - if anything, this would be a time to rally around the brand with our moral support at the very least.
 

Cakewalk has done nothing but get better the last few years IMHO. But I don't think the fact that Gibson owns Cakewalk means we can't discuss Gibson honestly. I'm not worried about the survivability of Cakewalk - I think they'll do great no matter what the future holds for Gibson...

I read the linked article, and it seems to be that the music industry in general is in financial trouble.
 
Steinway, Fender, and Guitar Center are all in debt up to their eyeballs.
 
Makes me think that their managements have not been steering their ships correctly.  Taking on debt as sales drop is not a formula for business success.
 
But a default will usually result in selling off parts of the business in a restructuring deal, not a shuttering of the entire business.  Especially if parts of it are actually still profitable.

Thread on the Gibson Forum:
 
http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/138944-oh-dear-henry-what-have-you-done/
 
 
 

Wow. There are also some anti-Gibson articles out there. I wasn't aware.