"He was the man who helped to turn the clothes retailer Next into one of Britain's largest retailers. In an effort to distance themselves from the majority ""own branded"" offering of main competitor Sports Direct, JJB's stock package mainly comprised products from the main sportswear suppliers, such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, and Reebok. However, JJB did operate its own brands, including 'Patrick' (menswear and football accessories), and 'Olympus' (womenswear and fitness accessories). JJB Sports launched their shopping site, JJB Sports Store, with a view to expanding their market. The majority shareholder of JJB Sports Plc was Dave Whelan, but his"
"JJB Sports JJB Sports plc (stylized as JJb sports) was a British sports retailer. On 24 September 2012, shares in JJB Sports were suspended, and the firm called in administrators. On 1 October 2012, it was announced that Sports Direct had purchased part of the business, including twenty stores, the brand, and its website for £28.3 million. The original JJB sportshop was founded in the early 1900s. It was expanded and incorporated in 1971, when ex footballer and supermarket chain operator Dave Whelan acquired a single sports shop in Wigan and immediately opened a second sports goods outlet in his"
"the business to Morrisons for £1.5 million. Whelan acquired Wigan fishing and sports store JJ Bradburns in 1977. He renamed the company JJB Sports (even though JJB are the initials of previous owner John Jarvis Broughton) and soon focused purely on sports goods. By 1980, JJB had seven stores, and continued to expand throughout the 80s and 90s, to become the UK's second biggest sports retailer. In 2005, JJB Sports was fined £5.5 million by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for fixing the price of the English National Team and Manchester United shirts in 2000 and 2001. ""Which?"" (the"
"to JJB Sports owned by Dave Whelan who was also the owner of the club. JJB Sports remained the main sponsor after Dave Whelan sold the club in late 2007 and JJB Sports earlier in the same year. It was announced during the 2008 season that JJB would not renew the sponsorship contract for the 2009 season. It was announced on 24 January 2009 via the club's e-news facility that the new sponsor would be Meccabingo.com. Kit manufacturers have included Umbro, Puma, Adidas and Nike. When JJB became the shirt sponsor the kit manufacturer was usually an associate of JJB"
"Whelan's departure from JJB. JJB also ran health and fitness centres in the Republic of Ireland, which are now operated by Sports Direct, following the liquidation of the company. JJB Sports JJB Sports plc (stylized as JJb sports) was a British sports retailer. On 24 September 2012, shares in JJB Sports were suspended, and the firm called in administrators. On 1 October 2012, it was announced that Sports Direct had purchased part of the business, including twenty stores, the brand, and its website for £28.3 million. The original JJB sportshop was founded in the early 1900s. It was expanded and"
"Sutton, St Helens, supermarket. The original JJB sports store was established by John Jarvis Broughton in the early 1900s and later was purchased by John Joseph Bradburn. As these initials were all the same the business was known locally as JJB's. When Whelan bought the store from Bradburn, he kept the JJB name During the early 1990s, the store portfolio grew to stores totalling 120 by 1994, at which point the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange. In July 1998, JJB bought its largest domestic competitor Sports Division. The acquisition made JJB one of the largest sports retailers"
"joined the international buying group Intersport. As a result, the Intersport logo was incorporated into the ""DW Sports Fitness"" fascias. In November 2012, the first stand-alone DW Sports retail site opened. Located at the Grand Arcade shopping centre in Wigan, it occupies the former JJB unit. In November 2012, in the wake of JJB Sports's demise. Mike Ashley's Sports Direct was rumoured to have purchased 60 JJB sites for a reported £30 million, leaving the other 120+ stores in the former JJB portfolio. Some reports say DW Sports is not interested in acquiring any further JJB units, whilst others say"
"in the United Kingdom, focusing on sports clothing rather than sports equipment. It had got to a sales total of £372.97 million (US$636.60 million) in 1999. In July 2002, it had also opened a new branch in Amsterdam. In October 2002, Duncan Sharpe, chief executive of JJB Sports, committed suicide. Mr Sharpe had been with the company for nineteen years, and was the son in law of the chairman, Dave Whelan. By 2005, JJB had expanded to stores over 430 throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. On 8 June 2007, Mr Whelan sold his residual 29% stake in the firm"
"99% stake was sold off. JJB no longer operated the famous ""Soccerdomes"", nor any gyms or Fitness Clubs outside Ireland. Also, because of Dave Whelan's purchase of the Fitness Club, and founding of DW (Dave Whelan) Sports in September 2009, JJB has lost its association with Wigan Athletic FC and Wigan Warriors RLFC. The stadium previously sponsored by the company has since been renamed the DW Sports Stadium. On 7 September 2011, JJB Sports launched a new major marketing campaign entitled ""Ready?"". The campaign involves prime time television advertising, national press coverage, in store promotions, and online competitions. The ""Ready"""
"followed by the acquisitions of outdoor gear manufacturer Karrimor in March for a reported £5 million. In 2006 he acquired Kangol for an estimated £12 million. Most of these brands were bought from distressed sellers. After looking at a takeover, Sports Direct took a £9 million stake and signed a lucrative long-term deal in August 2005 with troubled brand Umbro, which was subsequently sold to Nike. The brands themselves are an increasingly important part of the business, and Sports Direct made £10 million, from selling the intellectual-property rights to the Slazenger Golf brand to arch-rival JJB in 2005. In 2016,"
"Sports. Wigan's 2000 kit was made by Adidas who sponsored the East Stand at the JJB Stadium but when the association with JJB ended, the kits were made by Patrick, Dave Whelan's clothing company. In 2006 and 2007 the kit manufacturer became JJB Sports. The kit manufacturer changed to KooGa for the 2008 season. KooGa is 48% owned by JJB Sports. In 2008, Wigan signed a three-year deal with KooGa, the largest kit deal in the club's history and believed to be one of the biggest ever in rugby league history. In November 2008 Wigan announced the production of a"
"campaign was JJB Sport's first appearance on television for over four years, and represented the company's desire to become profitable again. In May 2005, JJB Sports were fined £8.3 million, by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), for fixing the price of England and Manchester United shirts in 2000 and 2001. ""Which?"" consumer magazine issued proceedings against JJB Sports to sue the high street retailer for damages on behalf of consumers who were affected by the price fixing. The business operated approximately sixty health & fitness centres all over the United Kingdom, which became property of DW Sports after Dave"
"by the BBC that shares in JJB Sports had been suspended, and that the firm was calling in the administrators. It was expected that many of the firms 180 stores would close, and most of the company's 4,000 employees would be made redundant. It was reported that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was to lose millions of dollars from this outcome, following its investment in JJB Sports in 2009. On 1 October 2012, it was announced that rival retailer Sports Direct had purchased the 'JJB' brand name, website and twenty stores, saving around 550 jobs. However, the remaining stores,"
"as Firetrap, Alu, Henleys & Adidas Originals for around £19M. JD Sports is the official supplier and sponsor of numerous association football teams, players and associations. In August 2008, JD Sports announced sponsorship deals with Bournemouth, Charlton Athletic, Dundee United, Blackpool, Luton Town & Oldham Athletic. In May 2009, JD Sports acquired """", which operated 75 small stores in France. In addition, JD acquired the rugby heritage brands 'Canterbury' and 'Canterbury of New Zealand' as well as 'The Duffer of St. George' and 'Kooga Rugby' brands. In January 2011, JD Sports acquired Champion Sports for €19.6M, In January 2012, JD"
"Sports purchased the troubled Blacks Leisure Group from administration for a total of £20 million. In February 2012, JD Sports acquired streetwear clothing brand FLY53, for an undisclosed sum. The same year JD Sports acquired a 40% stake in fashion retailer Tessuti, before acquiring the brand in full in 2016. In February 2013, it purchased Cloggs, a shoe retailer, out of administration however closed it in 2018. In 2016, JD Sports acquired Go Outdoors for £112 million. In 2017 the company saw 30 per cent rise in sales to £2.4bn and its 50 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to"
"access to its internal systems in September 2016. The Information Commissioner's Office stated it was aware of ""an incident from 2016 involving Sports Direct"" and would ""be making enquiries."" The group has over 470 UK stores including the chains SportsDirect.com (Sports World prior to 2008), Lillywhites, Field & Trek and USC. Sports Direct-branded stores exist under a franchising agreement in South Africa and the Middle East. In 2006 it overtook JJB Sports as the UK's largest sportswear retailer. In February 2004, the company acquired Dunlop Slazenger for around £40 million, which included the Dunlop, Slazenger and Carlton brands. This was"
"sponsorship deal was signed with Stones Bitter changing the leagues name once again to the Stones Bitter Championship. This deal ran until 1997 and the league was named Stones Super League in 1996 when the European Super League was founded. JJB Sports signed a two-year deal to sponsor the Super League in 1998. The league became known as the JJB Super League. It was the first Super League season to have a playoff and Grand Final which was also named the JJB Super League Grand Final. JJB also sponsor Wigan Warriors and had the naming rights to their stadium. Tetley's"
"later to accept an executive position at another company. Reebok chairman and CEO Paul Fireman took over as president for the first time in 12 years. Reebok signed Venus Williams after winning singles titles at Wimbledon and the 2000 Summer Olympics. In December 2000, Reebok signed a 10-year licensing agreement with the NFL for the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell NFL licensed merchandise, including uniforms and footwear, for all 32 teams. In 2001, Reebok became the exclusive apparel outfitter for the 29 teams in the NBA, and 16 WNBA teams for ten years beginning in the 2004-2005 season. The"
"wore Umbro kits. During the 2012 USLPro season, the Dayton Dutch Lions wore Umbro. In October 2007, JJB Sports bought a 10.1% stake in Umbro in a move to protect its stake in the market for England football shirts. On 23 October 2007, it was announced Umbro had agreed to be bought by Nike in a deal worth , the equivalent of 193p per share. The Umbro board recommended to its shareholders they vote in favour of the approach, as it offered a very competitive price for the business. Umbro's share price at the time of the offer was close"
"JD Sports JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as just JD Sports, is a sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England with shops throughout the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It is a subsidiary of the Pentland Group. The letters JD in JD Sports stand for the initials of the many founders of the company, John & David. In 1981, the company was established by John Wardle and David Makin, trading from a single shop in Bury. In 1983, the company opened a"
"for £190 million to Icelandic financial group Exista and Chris Ronnie, a sports retailer who previously worked at Umbro and Sports Direct. On 19 October 2007, JJB bought a stake of 10.1% in Umbro, in an move to protect its stake in the market for shirts of England football. This stake was sold in its entirety to Nike in March 2008. In December 2007, JJB announced that they had purchased the ""Original Shoe Company"" for £5 million. JJB considered converting some of the smaller JJB High Street stores into OSC stores, keeping OSC as a separate division of the JJB"
"the National Hockey League (NHL) in a 10-year agreement from 2007 to 2017. On December 2, 2014, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced a six-year deal with Reebok, which began in July 2015. In July 2018, Reebok Boston Track Club announced to be led by coach Chris Fox from Syracuse University. Rapper Jay-Z became the first non-athlete to get a signature shoe from Reebok. The """"S. Carter Collection by Rbk"""" was launched on November 21, 2003, and the ""S. Carter"" sneaker became the fastest-selling shoe in the company's history. Later, Reebok made a deal with rapper 50 Cent to release"
"closure of 95 stores and a possible hostile takeover by one of its top rivals, JD Sports, as of February 2011. The firm attempted to raise £65 million in finances from its investors on 7 April 2011. In February 2011, JJB revealed that as many as 95 of its stores faced closure within the next two years, and had asked for emergency £31.5m funding on 11 December 2011, The combined fiscal value of JJB Sports' shares had totaled £500 million in 2010, but had unpredictably collapsed to only £1.2 million by September 2012. On 24 September 2012, it was reported"
"accounts went to Puma. In 2000, when 29 other MLB teams switched to the MLB Authentic Collection, the New York Yankees were the last team to wear Starter jackets. The Starter name was purchased in 1999 by Official Starter Properties and Official Starter. These holding companies were in turn purchased by Nike on August 12, 2004 for about $43 million. Starter partnered with Walmart during the late 2000s/early 2010s. On November 15, 2007, Iconix Brand Group bought the Starter brand from Nike, Inc.. In 2009, Starter signed an exclusive endorsement agreement with quarterback Tony Romo, who was the featured brand"
"time didn't convince Whelan. In November 1999, broadcasting company BSkyB purchased a 9.9% stake in the club for £5.5 million, plus a further sum for media rights. The deal was part of a series of acquisitions by BSkyB which included a similar stake in Leeds United. A share rights issue announced at the same time as the BSkyB purchase saw JD Sports founders John Wardle and David Makin increase their stake and become the club's largest shareholders. Bernstein resigned on 5 March 2003, believing that differences of opinion regarding player transfers had undermined his ability to lead the club. Bernstein"
"of Sport. In 2003, former triathlete Jamie Hunt and Aidan Clarke approached Clyde Davenport about creating a sportswear brand. Davenport had recently sold his eponymously-named underwear line. In March 2012, 2XU acquired Sports Multiplied which was renamed 2XU North America. In May 2013, 2XU launched its interactive microsite, Athlete 2.0. The site provided more tools to achieve multiplying athletic performance through its gear, recovery, workouts, and nutritional portals. In 2017, 2XU collaborated with Kanye West to design a wetsuit for his Yeezy Season 5 fashion line. In 2011, Lazard Australia Private Equity acquired a minority interest share in the 2XU"
"later, a 34% share was purchased by Sports Direct. On 10 February 2009, JJB put their ""Qube"" and ""Original Shoe Company"" subsidiaries into administration, after failing to find a buyer. By the end of the week the Group secured a reprieve from its bankers to avoid putting the whole group into administration. On 13 October 2009, JJB admitted that former executives were being investigated by both HM Revenue & Customs and the Serious Organised Crime Agency. JJB was one of many companies that had undergone major restructuring and change due to the recession and faced a £31.5 million debt, the"
"Billabong. Von Zipper, an eyewear brand, was acquired in early 2001 and the acquisition of skateboarding apparel and hard good brand Element was announced in July 2001. The acquisition of the Kustom surf shoe brand, as part of Billabong's purchase of the Australian Gold Coast-based Palmers Surf company, was disclosed in September 2004. The following year in December, an official press release was published to announce the acquisition of Nixon Inc., a watch and accessories brand in the board sports market. The acquisition of wetsuit and technical watersport accessories brand Xcel became effective on 1 September 2007, and Jodhi Meares's"
"league's Challenge Cup for 16 years, between 1985 and 2001, and the competition was known as the 'Silk Cut Challenge Cup'. Silk Cut also sponsored the successful Jaguar XJR sportscars that competed in World Sportscar Championship, including the 24 Heures du Mans, but not in North America because of IMSA's title sponsorship of the GT series by R. J. Reynolds' Camel brand, which would have run the team in violation of the ""Viceroy Rule"". It is now illegal to advertise tobacco in many countries and the adverts have stopped. In the 1990s Silk Cut was the best selling brand in"
"deal also added the Reebok vector logo to the 2004 U.S. Olympic basketball team's uniforms. Later in 2001, Jay Margolis was named as Reebok's president and COO. After launching retail flagship stores in China, Dhaka, London, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Tokyo, Margolis resigned in October 2004. Fireman took over as president after signing a new long-term employment agreement with the Reebok board of directors. In 2003, Reebok also became the official uniform and apparel provider for the Canadian Football League, which took effect in 2004. Reebok acquired official National Hockey League sponsor CCM in 2004. The company began"
"which were 130, were to close, resulting in 2,200 redundancies. JJB Sports was officially dissolved with debts of £150 million on 9 November 2012. There were a total of 5,000 employees at its closure. On 13 October 2009, JJB admitted that former executives were being investigated by both HM Revenue & Customs and the Serious Organised Crime Agency. The former boss of both Next and JJB Sports, Sir David Jones, was charged in February 2013, over allegations of forgery and making misleading statements to the market while he was executive chairman of JJB Sports, concerning an earlier £150 million loan."
"that they are. In 2016, DW Sports Fitness acquired all 62 Fitness First clubs in the UK from Oaktree Capital Management, selling 14 of those and continuing to operate 48 under the Fitness First brand. DW Sports Fitness DW Sports Fitness is a British retailing and fitness business. Founded in March 2009 when Dave Whelan purchased the 50 JJB Sports Fitness Clubs and the attached retail stores for £83.4 million. At the time all the sites were shared between a fitness club and retail store, with most cases seeing the fitness club downstairs and the retail store upstairs. Since that"
"remained the league's athletic supplier through the 2011 NFL season, when Nike took over the contract for the 2012 NFL season. Reebok had initially announced when the deal was signed in 2000 that aside from the expansion Texans, all NFL teams would be wearing new uniforms for the 2002 season. However, after protests from several owners—most vocally Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney—Reebok later rescinded the proposal. Reebok did, however (by player request to reduce holding calls), shorten the sleeves on the jerseys for teams that hadn’t done so already (most players had been for the previous decade tying the sleeves"