My daughter Miranda, the former Buck Wheat of these pages, arrived in Stamford last week thankful for a father willing to discuss the parent’s portion of a needed tech upgrade.
And, with a misunderstanding of the word portion!
Over turkey and stuffing negotiations dragged on, which might have made for an apprehensive feast had my home state of Connecticut not already prepared me for THE holiday stress.
In June of 2004 the Guinness Book of World Records named Michael Carmichael the record-holder for “most layers of paint” on any one surface (excluding the inside of a gyroscopic paint shaker)!
Beginning January 1st, 1977, Mike added a coat or more onto a baseball each day, 17,994 coats to be exact, according to Guinness who certified the feat.
Who knew they made Tooke Gauges with blades that long?
Since that time Mike has kept going, each day expanding his own record by at-least one coat. Visitors to the attraction are also encouraged to give a schmear and while Guinness has not updated their records, Mike believes the ball now has nearly 30,000 coats tightly adhered.
THE paint has expanded the ball’s circumference from its original nine-inches to nearly 20-feet, the ball and paint now weighing more than 10,000 pounds according to Mike’s bespoke scale.
All I know of Mike is that he’s committed, though why to paint remains a mystery. One I plan to solve though because since going viral Mike has a real claim to calling himself the country’s biggest paint geek.
And I’m not handing over my title to someone less deserving!
I’m nearing the end of my work for the year, the time needed to create one last video all that remains of my commercial.
THE video will detail two-months of my work, identifying for my clients any parties interested in collaborations with them as they initiate North American operations.
That work has engaged me with more C-level coatings executives than at any time in my career. That access allowing a macro perspective on the independent channel rare in my experience. One which gives me great confidence for THE channel’s future and its economic viability.
That viewpoint is at-least partially informed by the number of entities currently strategizing opportunities in THE channel as expressed to me by those executives. No surprise considering that THE independent channel is now more than double its pre-pandemic size.
That growth among other factors continues to make the independent channel attractive to investors, at-least partially explaining big money’s current interest in paint.
In the near term that interest should be good news for dealers as new ownership at PPG and Richard’s Paint–two companies acquired by private equity firms in 2024–invest in those brands. Which was more than previous ownership was doing!
Long-term though, the prognosis for brands acquired by private equity will harder to predict.
Because while there are examples of private equity firms which “buy and hold” their assets–as is the case with California Paints since they were acquired by private equity firm Audax in 2015–most private equity firms have other plans.
One paint manufacturer not at risk of being acquired by private equity is Dunn-Edwards, who last week named chief operating officer Monte Lewis as the company’s new chief executive.
Dunn-Edwards is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Paint Holdings, the world’s fourth largest paint manufacturer, based in Osaka, Japan. When they acquired Dunn-Edwards in 2016 Nippon referred to the Los Angeles-based paint maker as a “platform for growth in the United States.”
Which to this point, has been correct.
Lewis was a guest on THE Opportunists podcast, my mini-series featuring companies who excelled in their response to the events at Kelly-Moore. As chief operating officer, Lewis directed his company’s response to those events allowing Dunn-Edwards to be among the winners of the Kelly-Moore sweepstakes.
On that episode Lewis mentioned he hopes to see Dunn-Edwards grow their business in the independent channel, now it seems he’ll get THE chance to accomplish that feat himself!
He’s Got ONE Job!
THE Saturday after Thanksgiving is rivalry day for college football fans, the biggest among them being Ohio State versus the University of Michigan.
That team up north!
This year’s contest was to be the Buckeye’s best opportunity to fell their rivals, which they’ve failed to do each of their previous three attempts. That streak coinciding with THE school’s hiring of Ryan Day as the team’s head coach in 2020.
Day’s fourth try was no charm, despite the Buckeyes being a three-touchdown favorite. THE loss among the worst in team history leaving only one way for Ryan Day to keep his job and that’s to win a National Championship.
Though if he can’t beat Michigan, I’d still #FireRyanDay!
