In August, JapanвЂ™s Softbank took advantage of the weak pound to buy BritainвЂ™s biggest technology company вЂ“ ARM Holdings вЂ“ for ВЈ24.3billion.Д¬hinese giant Ctrip announced a ВЈ1.4billion takeover of travel search website Skyscanner last month. Mr Ashley bought the business in 2004 and says he now wants to develop relationships with third party brands, rather than owning them outright.The fall in the pound since the Brexit vote has made UK companies more attractive to overseas buyers. It was sold to private equity group Cinven in 1996 for ВЈ330million, but fell into the hands of its creditors five years later. However, the collapse of the Dunlop rubber empire meant the sportswear business was offloaded to engineering company BTR in the 1990s. It ventured into sports goods in 1910 when it began to make rubber golf balls at Fort Dunlop, its flagship Birmingham factory. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dunlop Sport.Steffi Graf is among the tennis champions to have used Dunlop racketsДunlop started life manufacturing goods from rubber and became one of BritainвЂ™s largest conglomerates. 'Pension expert call for scrutiny over Sports Direct sale of Dunlop'. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. 'Game, set and match for Dunlop Slazenger'. ^ Osborne, Alistair (5 February 2004).^ Dunlop back on form after golf sale | The Sunday Times.^ a b BTR eyes overseas sites to cut losses.^ Dunlop sold in BTR re-focus вЂ“ Business вЂ“ News вЂ“ The Independent.^ The Guardian (London) 17 November 1984 Dunlop divides into seven 'profit centres' BYLINE: By MAGGIE BROWN.^ John Letters вЂ“ History & Heritage Archived 1 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine.: CS1 maint: archived copy as title ( link) Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Davis, Limited.' Times 29 January 1925: 18. Sir Eric Geddes: Business and Government in War and Peace. Sport, Politics and the Working Class: Organised Labour and Sport in Inter-war Britain.

Inclusive Branding: The Why and How of a Holistic Approach to Brands. ^ a b c d e f Klaus Schmidt Chris Ludlow (2002).Archived from the original on 18 January 2014. 35вЂ“53 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Economic History Society Article Stable URL: ^ a b The Growth and Performance of British Multinational Firms before 1939: The Case of Dunlop Geoffrey Jones The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol.The sale is due to be completed by May 2017. Sumitomo already owned the rights to the sports as well as the rubber industries brand in most of the world. In December 2016, Sports Direct announced it had agreed to sell the Dunlop brand to Sumitomo Rubber Industries for ВЈ112В million ($137.5В million). Sports Direct International bought Dunlop Slazenger for ВЈ40В million in 2004. Slazenger Golf and Maxfli were sold off to reduce debt. To save money, Cinven moved production of Dunlop tennis balls from England to the Philippines. In 1996 Dunlop Slazenger was acquired by the private equity firm Cinven for ВЈ330В million. Steffi Graf's sponsorship money was cut so she defected to a Wilson racket. BTR cut marketing spending to just 8 per cent of sales and reduced investment in grass roots sponsorship and research and development.

In 1986, the parent company, Dunlop Holdings, was acquired by the industrial company BTR for ВЈ549В million. One year later, the sports businesses were merged to form Dunlop Slazenger. In 1983 the John Letters golf club business was sold back to members of the Letters family. In the 1970s and 1980s, Dunlop was slow to adapt to the new materials that tennis rackets were increasingly being made from, believing that wood would remain the dominant material.

The Dunlop 'flying D' logo was introduced in 1960. In 1959 the Slazenger Group was acquired. In 1957 Dunlop acquired the golf club manufacturer John Letters of Scotland. It was sponsored by Dunlop until 1982, and is now known as the British Masters. The Dunlop Masters golf tournament was established in 1946. Headquarters were relocated from Birmingham to Waltham Abbey in Essex. In 1928 the sports division became a subsidiary of Dunlop Rubber named Dunlop Sports. Dunlop opened acquisition discussions with Slazenger in 1927, but without success. In 1925, F A Davis was acquired, which had tennis racket manufacturing expertise. Дunlop extended into tennis ball manufacture in 1924. The company introduced the Maxfli golf ball in 1922. The company entered the sporting goods market in 1910, when it began to manufacture rubber golf balls at its base in Birmingham. Dunlop advertisement for its golf balls, 1922Дunlop was established as a company manufacturing goods from rubber in 1889.

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