EASTERN MOUNTAIN SPORTS: Peterborough, NH, completed a management-led buyout from American Retail Group for the 80-store chain. President-CEO Will Manzer led the buyout and will continue to run the chain with financing from J.H. Whitney & Co. This year the chain began a Raise the Roof Tour, visiting sports and cultural events to encourage outdoor activity.
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC: after nine years of sponsoring NASCAR, has decided to bow out at the end of the 2004 season and to look into other methods to reach its target customer. Schneider Electric, sponsor of the Square D Craftsman Truck Series Racing Team, had sponsored Bobby Hamilton Racing driving the No. 4 Square D truck.
UMBRO: sportswear designer and soccer kit manufacturer has signed a formal distribution agreement with Foot Locker, Inc. this week to sell its apparel, equipment and footwear. The agreement formalizes an existing trading relationship between the two companies over the past year. Specialty athletic retailer Foot Locker operates 3,900 stores in 17 countries throughout North America, Europe and Australia.
IGN ENTERTAINMENT: an Internet media company serving the videogame and entertainment enthusiast markets, has signed an agreement with Starpulse to exclusively represent and sell the advertising space on Starpulse.com, an entertainment-focused search engine. The agreement will add another film, television and entertainment property to IGN’s existing entertainment portfolio, which includes IGN FilmForce and Rotten Tomatoes, as well as video game sites, IGN.com, GameSpy.com, TeamXBox.com and FilePlanet.com. This partnership also expands IGN’s overall reach by an incremental 4 million users.
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