2001
When Jim Weber became CEO, Brooks Running had about $60 million in annual revenue.
“It was a business of pretty modest size. It was a $60 million revenue business.”
Topic
Brooks Running
25 facts from 3 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
2001
Brooks Running was losing $5 million a year and carried $30 million of debt when Jim Weber took over.
“the company was losing $5 million a year. It was $30 million in debt.”
2001
One host recalled that J.H. Whitney put in $7 million to recapitalize Brooks Running.
“And so, if I'm remembering right, Whitney put in $7 million.”
2001
Brooks Running did about $10 million of its $60 million in revenue with Big Five, selling $30 shoes.
“We were doing $10 million of $60 million of revenue with them at $30 shoes.”
2001
Brooks Running generated $5 million in cash by clearing inventory after it stopped selling low-priced shoes to Big Five.
“we left and we generated $5 million of cash by getting the inventory out of it.”
2001
Jim Weber said Brooks Running generated $10 million of cash in his first nine months by shrinking its balance sheet.
“And we generated $10 million of cash that first nine months. That's how much we shrunk the balance sheet with focus.”
2002
Jim Weber described the fourth version of the Brooks Adrenaline as a balanced stability shoe with multi-density technology, finished in 2001 for release in 2002.
“The fourth adrenaline was an incredibly balanced shoe, had a multi-density stability technology in it, super balanced.”
2002
When Jim Weber took over in 2002, Brooks Running was losing about $5 million a year, according to the host.
“The company was losing money, I think, $5 million a year in the red.”
2011
A Wall Street Journal article said Mark Zuckerberg would swap his Adidas slides for Brooks Adrenaline shoes before taking Facebook public, and Warren Buffett circled the line.
“he was going to trade in his Adidas slides for a pair of Brooks Adrenaline.”
2012
Jim Weber said Warren Buffett phoned to propose spinning Brooks out of Fruit of the Loom as a standalone Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary.
“I'm thinking about spinning you out and setting you up as a standalone subsidiary.”
2012
Jim Weber said he and two Brooks marketing leaders were removed from the U.S. Olympic track and field trials after Brooks flew a banner plane over the stadium.
“They kicked me out, our head of marketing, and our head of sports marketing.”
2019
Jim Weber said Brooks Running's 2019 distribution center launch failed and disappointed customers for three to six months.
“And it didn't work. And so we just disappointed customers for three to six months. It was awful.”
2020
During COVID shutdowns, Brooks Running had its field marketing staff count runners in busy parks each afternoon to test whether running was recovering.
“we have 40 in the U.S. alone, 45 field marketing people. We put them in parks, high traffic running parks at 4 p.m. every afternoon and they counted runners.”
2020
Jim Weber said the share of Brooks products sold through websites rose from 30% to 80% by the end of April 2020.
“digital went from 30% of all of our products going through a website of somebody's, ours or another partners. It went to 80% by the end of April.”
2020
Jim Weber said Brooks Running restarted its supply chain at least six to twelve weeks before other brands during COVID.
“We turned our supply chain on at least 6 to 12 weeks before anybody else did.”
2021
Jim Weber said Brooks Running grew revenue 27% in 2020 and 31% in 2021.
“We grew 27% in 2020. We grew 31% in 2021.”
2021
Jim Weber said 45% of Brooks Running's factories in Vietnam made no shoes for three months because of a southern shutdown in the third quarter.
“The South was shut down last Q3, July, August, September. 45% of my factories didn't make a shoe for three months.”
2021
The host says Brooks Running had revenue close to $1.2 billion in the prior year, up from about $60 million in 2002.
“Last year, they did close to $1.2 billion and had a great year last year through the pandemic”
2022
Jim Weber said Brooks Running had become the top U.S. running shoe brand, with a 21.5% share of performance running.
“We became the number one running shoe brand in the United States in the last 12 months, last month. 21.5% share in performance runs.”
Undated
Under CEO Jim Weber, Brooks Running grew from a few million dollars of revenue to over a billion dollars a year, competing with Nike and Adidas.
“they went from like, de minimis small number of millions of revenue to over a billion in revenue a year, competing with Nike and Adidas.”
Undated
Brooks Running became part of Berkshire Hathaway through its purchase of Fruit of the Loom, in what the hosts describe as an accidental acquisition.
“They were like accidentally bought by Berkshire as part of a Fruit of the Loom roll-up, and they were sort of this bland nothing brand.”
Undated
Jim Weber said Brooks Running's return on tangible net assets has been over 50% for 15 years.
“Our return on tangible net assets has been over 50% for the last 15 years.”
Undated
Jim Weber said a frequent runner who runs 20 to 30 miles a week uses about 2.6 pairs of shoes a year.
“A frequent runner will put 20 to 30 miles a week. They'll go through 2.6 pairs of shoes a year.”
Undated
Jim Weber said he negotiated independence for Brooks Running when Russell Athletic bought it.
“And they ended up, we negotiated our independence. I pitched us, we're the crazy uncle out in Seattle.”
Undated
Jim Weber said Brooks Running's 10-year vision is to grow from about 15 million to 60 million customers and reach $4 billion in revenue.
“So we see an opportunity for 60 million customers, 60 million uniques up from maybe 15 million today, four bagger, and four billion in revenue.”
Episodes