Valuations & Acquisitions: Tough Time to Compete, Worse Time to Sell

It must be a sign of the times when even a profitable catalog business can’t sell.

That was Sportif USA CEO John Kirsch’s position when I caught up with him just before Thanksgiving. He’d just put the Waterfronts Nautical catalog on the selling block. And as he aimed to sell the 21-year-old nautical-themed apparel catalog started by his father, Kirsch reflected on some hard lessons.