(The best part about being filthy rich? You don’t have to share ring girls anymore. / Props: amam-magazine.com / R.I.P.: Charles Lewis)
After a 13-year run that saw TapouT go from a two-man operation — with founders Charles "Mask" Lewis and Dan "Punkass" Caldwell selling shirts out of the trunk of a car — to becoming the most powerful apparel and lifestyle brand in mixed martial arts, and then pressing on after Lewis’s tragic death, TapouT has finally reached the mythical "cash-out" stage of its existence. As first announced via press release yesterday, Authentic Brands Group has purchased TapouT, as well as its rival label Silver Star Casting Company, along with their subsidiary brands.
With offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto, ABG was founded earlier this year by chairman/CEO Jamie Salter, who previously managed such big-name brands as Polaroid, the Sharper Image, and Linens ‘N Things while at Hilco Consumer Capital. Now, he’s betting big on MMA. In a Bloomberg.com article published today, Salter wouldn’t talk numbers, but he did talk about how excited he was about his new company’s first major acquisitions: