Billabong International Ltd. is being eyed by several private equity firms, with one company presenting an offer of $776 million, according to a report from the Australian Financial Review. Reports say the offer is believed to have been made by US private equity giant TPG, which also owns J. Crew, Ducati, and U.S. Airways, to name a few. The company also just issued a trading halt announcement earlier today, according to its Investor Relations page. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that  Billabong had “requested a trading halt pending an announcement on the strategic capital structure review it flagged the week before Christmas when the company slashed its earnings outlook. Billabong shares are trading at literally 20 per cent of last year’s levels thanks to the downgrade making it vulnerable to corporate predators.”

The news comes on the heels of swirling rumors that Billabong CEO Derek O’Neill would be removed from the company’s board of directors, which were denied by Chairman Ted Kunkel, who said ”I categorically deny the suggestion,” according to a Sydney Morning Herald  post.

“At this stage we have not offered any comment and are unlikely to say anything until the release of our results tomorrow,” stated Billabong Australia Communications Manager John Mossup via email.

read more at transworld

Reef just announced it has re-signed Cardiff, California’s Rob Machado, on top of welcoming paddleboard icon Jamie Mitchell to the team. Here’s the details:

Cardiff, California’s Rob Machado, 38, surfing’s longtime icon of style, re-signed a footwear deal with Reef, extending their relationship for the next three years. Machado is a traveling ambassador of the Reef Modern Gypsy lifestyle and will represent Reef’s premium leather sandal collection. In addition to re-signing Machado, Reef has also inked a footwear deal with all-round elite waterman and recent ASL/Oakley Big Wave Award recipient for Biggest Paddle in Wave, Jamie Mitchell.

Machado has been on the Reef program since 1998 and has been one of the top competitors on the world stage since the early 1990s. Machado’s long reign on the ASP World Championship Tour included a second place finish in 1995 and eight elite Word Tour victories, including the Pipeline Masters in 2000. That year he was also inducted into the Surfers Hall of Fame.

When asked about his new deal with Reef, Machado stated, “Reef has been like family over the years. I’m blessed to have such support and killer product and get to do what I love to do. I’m Looking forward to this next chapter.”

read more at business.transworld.net

Rip Curl has again created a technological world-first by capturing full-tilt surfing action using a “30 camera Array” – a line of cameras firing consistently as surfers ride towards and past it. The results are unique “frozen moments of time” – that can be viewed in a combination of angles for a true in the round perspective.

Three years ago Rip Curl took a similar concept to the Sun Way Lagoon Wavepool in Malaysia using Canon SLR cameras, linking 50 individual shots to freeze a single moving moment. Effective, but a hell of a lot of work (and risk) for the slim chance at one particular point in time.

This year Rip Curl and TimeSlice, our partners in the overall development, used GoPro HD video cameras to freeze an infinite number of moments that could be viewed. The major benefit being a better way of catching all the performance surfing the Rip Curl team riders were doing, rather than just a fraction of it.

The freeze frame concept all started with a desire to showcase the MIRAGE Series of Ultimate Boardshorts. MIRAGE are the most technically advanced boardshort on the planet, so to do them justice we needed the right leadership and technology from our photographic equipment. Combining our world class surf team of Mick Fanning, Owen Wright, Matt Wilkinson, Dillon Perillo and Dean Brady with the multi-frame array of cameras, gave us a Matrix style suite of “Mirage Moments”, which pull the viewer in to the image, stalling there for long enough to enjoy a great move, before travelling down the line through the footage to the next Mirage Moment, the viewing metaphor for surfing in itself.

It was 2X ASP world champion, Fanning, who used his knowledge of the world’s best breaks to help pick the ideal location. When asked where he would go to try something so ambitious Fanning replied simply… “Namotu Island in Fiji. The waves, the light, the location. It’s built for it. Scott and Mandy who own the place will look after us.”

Of course, we took Mick’s advice and the dice were rolled.

Along the way things developed rapidly. A 10 camera hand held water rig was pieced together in the makeshift workshop, a 30 camera rig which attached to a jet ski buzzed the lineup with the surfers following down the line, and a bigger 30 camera hand-held rig were all developed on the fly to great effect.

We invite you to experience MIRAGE to the fullest effect here: www.ripcurl.com/mirage