Yeah. Bye bye any US Proline manufacturing. Horizon is bottom line profits first. Anyone that's been on any management team for any US based corporation will know what happens in the next two years. They'll simply take Proline's intellectual property and move all manufacturing to China and Taiwan.

Another great one gone. Another nail in our coffin.

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Well, you can count on Pro-Line being added to the endless list of out of stock products. Don't worry though, they will eventually come back once Horizon gets them made out of foam at 3x the price.

That's the last thing this nobby needs.

f

While not what I'd like to see, I'd rather them be absorbed by someone like Horizon than disappear completely.

Let's boycott Horizon Hobby then. I feel like I'm in a post-apocalyptic period where HH destroyed everything.
Can't buy brand new Top Flite kits since HH bought Hobbico.

If Horizon buys an existing RC company, it likely means that the company was unprofitable and going under due to long-term poor management. If things were profitable and growing the company wouldn't have sold out to Horizon.

Blaming Horizon for some small RC company's financial failure is like blaming the doctor forced to amputate a limb to save the life of someone who ate themselves to 700 pounds of weight over ten years of serially self-destructive behavior. Of course it's tragic and, obviously, to survive going forward all that pre-existing destructive behavior must change but it's a last desperate attempt to save the company and give it one more chance under different leadership.

Often, such acquisitions are only a few weeks or months ahead of an inevitable bankruptcy filing. So it's either company goes under and everyone loses their jobs - and founders (probably) lose their life-savings (and, often, homes) OR Horizon steps in because, after reviewing the finances and products they think that *some* of the products might actually be viable if operated competently. At least with Horizon, *some* of the employees keep their jobs and the customers and founders at least have a chance that things might work out better than "game over".

If Horizon cost-reduces a pre-existing product (or raises its price) that means it was unprofitable but close enough to possibly survive and be viable after necessary changes. If Horizon discontinues a pre-existing product that means they can't see any way to save it (and the original company shouldn't have made it in the first place). I highly doubt that Horizon (or any sane business owner) ever discontinues a profitable growing product. Horizon can only be successful if their improved management puts products on the market that customers value enough to buy. If Horizon has misjudged or they fail to execute their plan, everyone still loses their jobs, customers still lose access to all the products and now Horizon loses all the money, time and effort they put into it.

Bottom line: Horizon risking it's money is giving you customers and the employees one last chance to not lose it all. Frankly, as a business person experienced in these kinds of transactions, I'm surprised Horizon even has the investor support to do this kind of acquisition at all in a business as volatile and lousy as RC. But it's not my money at risk (or yours), yet we all *might* still get something positive from it.

Horizon Hobby has gone to the Dogs!, Take a look at their Blade brand of heli’s and the Quads are long gone!....

I'm sad to see this, though it's not surprising.

Whether ProLine was having financial difficulties they couldn't overcome (my gut feeling, particularly this year) or they just wanted to sell out (less likely), it's sad to see them die. Because either way, with this acquisition the ProLine we know is dead.

Look what they did to Tower.
Is Horizon anti RC? they sure act like it.

Originally Posted by Fourtech

Look what they did to Tower.
Is Horizon anti RC? they sure act like it.

They have certainly lost all respect for their customers, profit now comes before customers.

They deleted your wish lists, the order history.They have nothing in stock, they don't send notifications of in stock like I signed up for.

All the things that made Tower great are gone.

Originally Posted by vortechz230

Horizon Hobby has gone to the Dogs!, Take a look at their Blade brand of heli’s and the Quads are long gone!....

My Shih Tzu resents that comparison.

He knows he is a heck of a lot better than HH

Originally Posted by Markran

If Horizon buys an existing RC company, it likely means that the company was unprofitable and going under due to long-term poor management. If things were profitable and growing the company wouldn't have sold out to Horizon.

Blaming Horizon for some small RC company's financial failure is like blaming the doctor forced to amputate a limb to save the life of someone who ate themselves to 700 pounds of weight over ten years of serially self-destructive behavior. Of course it's tragic and, obviously, to survive going forward all that pre-existing destructive behavior must change but it's a last desperate attempt to save the company and give it one more chance under different leadership.

Often, such acquisitions are only a few weeks or months ahead of an inevitable bankruptcy filing. So it's either company goes under and everyone loses their jobs - and founders (probably) lose their life-savings (and, often, homes) OR Horizon steps in because, after reviewing the finances and products they think that *some* of the products might actually be viable if operated competently. At least with Horizon, *some* of the employees keep their jobs and the customers and founders at least have a chance that things might work out better than "game over".

If Horizon cost-reduces a pre-existing product (or raises its price) that means it was unprofitable but close enough to possibly survive and be viable after necessary changes. If Horizon discontinues a pre-existing product that means they can't see any way to save it (and the original company shouldn't have made it in the first place). I highly doubt that Horizon (or any sane business owner) ever discontinues a profitable growing product. Horizon can only be successful if their improved management puts products on the market that customers value enough to buy. If Horizon has misjudged or they fail to execute their plan, everyone still loses their jobs, customers still lose access to all the products and now Horizon loses all the money, time and effort they put into it.

Bottom line: Horizon risking it's money is giving you customers and the employees one last chance to not lose it all. Frankly, as a business person experienced in these kinds of transactions, I'm surprised Horizon even has the investor support to do this kind of acquisition at all in a business as volatile and lousy as RC. But it's not my money at risk (or yours), yet we all *might* still get something positive from it.

That is all totally simplistic. You may as well try to justify the rise and dominance of robber barons in the gilded age, or the vast chasm in wealth distribution in the US today. It's no good, unless you're one of the very, very few billionaires.. Sure, these things have ups and downs, but that does not mean it is good for the hobby or customers. Horizon has become progressively more awful over the last several years, with prices going through the roof, and quality going down..(I have had two nearly brand new stock E-flite planes crash at 100mph with melted ESCs, within the span of one year.. That kind of thing doesn't even happen with some cheapo foamie from Banggood...) There is no way that is good for anybody but the scumbag investors looking to squeeze out every penny they can get from the company.

And please... It's not like every takeover is by some healthy, altruistic bigger company of some on-the-verge-of-bankruptcy poorly run little company. There is more at play than that. The big corporate entity here just uses muscle to force out its smaller competitors, and in the end there is LESS competition, and a pure capitalist like yourself(apparently..) should realize that less competition is a bad thing. Instead of a lot of medium size fish in the water, you now have like one big shark, who has eaten all the smaller fish through brute force. The way of the world, I assume you'll say... Perhaps, but that doesn't mean it's a good thing if you live in the same water.

Your argument reminds me of what Votaire's Candide satirizes - the simplistic notion that "all is for the best"... There is nothing good for RC customers by having Horizon gobble up all the smaller players, then reduce the diversity of what's available, and jack up prices. So, higher prices for us the customers, and less choice. Yeah, it happens, and yeah, there are market forces at play which are difficult to keep in check. But don't go saying what Horizon is doing is good for the hobby. That's nonsense.