jizzed-in-your-pants says: Before we anoint these guys heroes, is it a huge harbinger? Or are they just simply doing what they do and selling high while they can as they know Bushmaster will come under a lot of heat for the tragedy. I smell spin here… they are taking the money and running away.
» SFB says: A gun company just became an asset too toxic for an equity firm to touch, so they had to sell it to cut their losses. I don’t think anyone’s calling them heroes—rather, this is a sign that the controversy is so loud that it required a business response from the gun industry. That seems worthy of noting, because it’s so rare that a shooting has that kind of effect. — Ernie @ SFB
(Source: shortformblog)
The private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management said on Tuesday that it would sell its investment in the gunmaker Freedom Group in response to the school shootings last week in Connecticut.
Cerberus acquired Bushmaster — the manufacturer of the rifle used by the gunman in the Newtown attacks that killed 27 people, including 20 schoolchildren — in 2006.
The private equity giant later merged it with other gun companies to create Freedom Group, which reported net sales of $677.3 million for the nine months that ended in September 2012, a 20 percent increase compared with the same period last year.
Holy wow. That is a huge harbinger. (ht @BuzzfeedBen)
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