Who owns Padi?

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PADI is a privately traded, for profit corporation. It is owned by the shareholders, and the profits go to them. If you are asking who owns the shares, that's kind of like asking who owns General Electric, and where do the profits go.

I would guess that some shares are owned by the officers of PADI, the rest being held by the Cronin and Erikson families or estates.
 
The prior statement is a bit of an oxymoron as privately held companies rarely "trade" their stock. The comparison to General Electric is off-base since companies with publicly traded equities are required to report significant information regarding institutional investors and insider stock ownership. Also, the stock of privately held corporations such as PADI is generally closely held by a small number of investors, unlike a monolithic multinational such as GE, which has thousands of stockholders and must account for the disposition of certain profits inasmuch as they are required to disclose executive compensation and dividends.

Regarding PADI's Ownership and Subsidiary / Affiliate Structure:

PADI Worldwide is a privately held corporation guided by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and officers and directors comprising the Worldwide Executive Committee. The PADI Worldwide group includes seven service offices, some of which are wholly owned subsidiaries, while others are licensees. PADI Worldwide manages the long range planning and global marketing for the organization while the officers, managers and staff at each PADI Office conduct the day-to-day business activities that support PADI programs and provide services to PADI Members. PADI Members influence corporate decisions by sharing their opinions through advisory boards, member forums and responding to surveys sent out by PADI Worldwide or PADI Offices. PADI Worldwide is also affiliated with several companies, foundations and organizations that provide additional services to PADI Members and to the dive industry. Corporate affiliates include the PADI Travel Network which provides travel services and Diving Science and Technology (DSAT) Corp. which develops educational and promotional products and programs. The PADI Diving Society is an affiliated organization for underwater enthusiasts that encourages active participation in diving. The Project AWARE Foundation and the PADI Foundation are nonprofit organizations established by PADI to support environmental and educational efforts through grant programs and other efforts.


(Source: NCPAD, NCPAD:Organizations by Location Accessed on 14-Apr-10)
 
I have always had this theory that PADI doesn't make nearly as much money as everyone likes to pretend on SB. Otherwise it surely would have had a splashy IPO before now and the original founders would have cashed out.
 
I heard "Apple" recently bought "PADI" and are renaming it "IPAD"

(Sorry...long day at work).

Bob
 
I have always had this theory that PADI doesn't make nearly as much money as everyone likes to pretend on SB. Otherwise it surely would have had a splashy IPO before now and the original founders would have cashed out.

I'm not sure that people/investors (as a whole, most who are non divers) would see a dive certification agency (regardless of agency name) as something worthy of doing large scale "public offering" investments in.

Even less so "today" with LDS sales and certifications being drastically down.
 
Finally, a funny (sorta) play on PADI's name.

"sorta"...What does a guy have to do to earn a chuckle?

Cheers!

Bob
 
I'm not sure that people/investors (as a whole, most who are non divers) would see a dive certification agency (regardless of agency name) as something worthy of doing large scale "public offering" investments in.

Even less so "today" with LDS sales and certifications being drastically down.

Today it would be sheer madness, but in days of yore when PADI could point to 15% annual growth in certifications and had good global brand awareness, you could usually wring an IPO out of that, especially on the small cap markets - unless your balance sheet was tiny.

Concepts like actually making a profit were certainly not a requirement for an IPO during the dot com years or the 'new economy' years.

I don't know, but my guess is that the reason it didn't happen was that the turnover and balance sheet were just too small to take seriously.
 
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