Matthew Perrin Files For Bankruptcy, Firewire Surfboards Not Impacted

josh hunter

• March 03 2009
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News reports from Australia began circulating recently that former Billabong executive Matthew Perrin filed for personal bankruptcy with Insolvency Trustee Service of Australia.

According to reports from The Australian:

“In 1998, at the age of 26, he and his brother Scott teamed with former Brambles chief executive and Qantas chairman Gary Pemberton to buy a 49 per cent share in Billabong from Rena Merchant, the ex-wife of Billabong founder Gordon Merchant.
Scott Perrin sold out but Matthew Perrin and Mr Pemberton arranged a sharemarket float in August 2000 that was a spectacular success, with Mr Merchant selling his 51 per cent to the public at $2.30 a share and leaving the others holding most of the balance. Matthew Perrin sold some stock into the new float, but he had $41 million of stock at the listing, while Mr Pemberton had $37.2 million. The company became a global success worth about $1.7 billion.”

Apparently, sometime between making all that money and losing it, he invested in Firewire Surfboards. Following the news, Firewire Surfboards CEO Mark Price released this statement to the media, confirming that Perrin is indeed an investor in the company, but stressing that Firewire has not been impacted by his bankruptcy.

Press Release From Firewire:

Firewire was saddened to learn that Matthew Perrin, one of the companies lead
investors over the past 3 years, had filed for bankruptcy protection in Australia due to real estate and other business dealings unrelated to Firewire.

“Matthew?s commitment was one of the foundations on which Firewire was built”, said Firewire CEO Mark Price, “and he along with our other lead investors, combined with our innovative product and Taj?s success, have allowed Firewire to develop into a globally recognized surfboard brand in a relatively short space of time.”

Heading into its 3rd full year of operations, Firewire continues to gain market share and die hard converts to the companies innovative technology, the most recent of which, Rapid-fire, combines bamboo deck skins with internal carbon rods to control flex properties.

“Our business is by no means immune to global market conditions”, continued Price, “but with a highly differentiated product and exceptionally clean distribution, we believe that Firewire is well positioned for today?s market conditions and for the future.”