In 1981, Don Gandy asked to have dinner with William M. Windsor. Don was the CEO of a company that was acquiring businesses in the imprinted sportswear industry.
At Alaman’s Mexican restaurant in Dallas, Don wrote something on a little piece of paper and put it in the center of the table. He told me to take the paper and look at it ONLY if I was interested in selling my imprinted sportswear magazines, trade shows, and conferences.
I had never thought about selling. I had never considered what the business might be worth. We were doing $6 million in revenues at the time.
I asked how many zeros were after the range of numbers written on the paper. I decided I was interested in selling.
Rather than sell to Don Gandy, I hired a publishing consultant, Mark Schrimpf, to do a valuation and seek buyers. Three large U.S. publishing companies were interested, and I sold to Gralla Publications in October 1981.
I retired. That lasted for less than a year.
