Paul Singer is an "activist investor" (nothing to do with politics) who buys a sufficient stake in a company for a particular reason, then using the power of his ownership stake, stirs things up to force them into whatever plan he had at the onset of the stock purchase. Paul viewed that Cabela's was "undervalued", meaning that it's holdings and market share were actually worth a lot more than was reflected in the per share stock price. This meant that there was an opportunity to sell the company for a value higher than the stock was currently trading.

Paul bought shares at a bargain price (that undervalued market price), then stirred the pot to force a sale of the company (as a whole or broken into pieces) because the earning from selling Cabela's would add up to more than all the shares of stock combined. When Cabela's was sold, Paul quickly got all his money back PLUS a very tidy profit margin for the short time that he owned shares. To make that same profit on sales operations at Cabela's would have taken years longer. He made a lot of money real fast, and moved on to stir the pot at his next victim company. He NEVER intended to own it very long - if he got his way. He took the money and ran as fast as he could.

I have always thought that Gander, Cabelas, and BPS expanded with stores too quickly and over spent on them. They should have focused on web sales. Unless I just cannot find something that I need right now somewhere else I avoid BPS. Cabelas is not convenient to me. I was buying Mercury oil once and BPS was $6-$7 higher than Academy.

Yes. That's how I got laid off about 10 years ago. We got bought out by a bigger company, then laid off, so they can put more money in their pocket. We were not in the red and making millions in profits every year. Greed will always dominate.

Does anyone miss Gander Mountain

I don't know why anyone shops at any of these places really. Academy has nearly the same selection with much lower prices. Tackle Warehouse has infinitely more selection and better prices also.

For the non-fishing stuff, the pricing is even worse at BPS & Cabelas. Of the two, Cabelas has better pricing though. I'm not sure why BPS gets more traffic. Maybe location? There isn't a Cabelas within reasonable driving distance of me, but both the FW and Allen locations seem like reasonable places to put them.

$10M for 2,000 people isn't much of a package. That's $5k per person...and you know the top execs are going to be getting 6-figure payouts, so that leaves little or nothing for whatever lower level folks are let go.

Cabelas was put in play because their management underperformed and an activist investor forced the issue. Bass Pro bought them for two reasons: synergies and competition. The synergies are obvious when you buy another firm in the same industry (duplicate staff, greater purchasing power, optimized distribution, etc.). The competitive aspect is also obvious: first, Bass Pro "takes out" their most direct competitor, and second, they are somewhat better positioned to take on the real threat - Amazon, and to a letter degree other online retailers.

Bass Pro used a significant amount of debt to enable this acquisition. That means that they made promises to the lenders regarding their ability to service the loans, driven in part by cost savings through elimination of redundant positions. This is called capitalism; it's what made this country the economic powerhouse we are. Play the game or not, but complaining about it accomplishes nothing.

By offering credit cards, and financing peoples dreams.

U have to understand this is what the Cabela's investors wanted too, for the amount of money paid I'm sure Johnyy needs to see more then 3-5% return. Things needed to be changed. Its been a complaint about Cabela's earnings for a long time.

I'm gonna say the truest thing I have ever heard and have used from time to time. Owners have rights too. First and foremost of these is the right to make money and to maximize their returns. It's unfortunate when there is a layoff but it happens and it's better to layoff some now than everyone later

hell..........you got to drive to Okla. to shop........

I remember the days before johnny morris revolutionized the fishing tackle industry and the memories were not pleasant...if you wanted to buy fishing tackle,your choices were few and overpriced...a local bait shop or hardware store were your only locations that sold tackle and the selections were very limited...

I certainly do NOT.

Academy in Arlington has a lousy selection of fishing tackle now. It used to be ok but has gone down for the past 3-5 years now.