It's a fine time to be reporting on surf biz! What with new players disrupting the status quo, professional surfers becoming businessmen, and empires being built and lost, sometimes within the space of a financial year.

The latest news is that Surf Hardware International (SHI) may have found a buyer in Firewire. The story is being reported by the Australian Financial Review, who say the deal could be completed by as early as this week. Keep in mind the story is still rumour. 'Alleged' and 'reported' make multiple appearances in the copy.

Nevertheless the AFR have secured quotes from insiders commenting upon SHI's time under SurfStitch: "I don't think SurfStitch was very good for them," said one former shareholder. "Half their customers were retailers who compete with (SurfStitch)."

"Everyone was shocked they paid close to 10 times [historic] earnings," said another source referring to the exorbitant price SurfStitch paid for SHI.

In 2003 when FCS wre flying high with nearly 90% market share, Macquarie Bank paid $10.25 million for majority share in the company. In 2015, with the company in a far worse state, they sold it to SurfStitch for $24.3 million, paid in cash. At that stage Macquarie had been trying to sell it for a few years.

Now, just 12 months later, SurfStitch are unloading it for an as-yet unknown price though it's expected to be much less than they paid.

Firewire, if they are indeed the buyers, would be a more natural fit for the fin makers both because they make complimetary equipment and also that Kelly Slater - the majority owner of Firewire - is a long time FCS rider. If the sale takes place Slater would have a finger in almost every quarter of the surfing pie: boards, hardware, clothes, and pools.

Yesterday we reported that various fin makers were preparing to test FCS by launching their own FCS II-compatible fins. Read about that here.