Billabong (clothing)

Billabong International Limited

Type	Public
Traded as	ASX: BBG
Industry	Retail
Founded	Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia (1973)
Founder	Gordon Merchant
Headquarters	Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia
Key people	Neil Fiske, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Ian Pollard, Chairman
Products	Apparel, sporting goods
Revenue	A$1.27 billion (2014)
Net income	A$25.7 million (2014)
Number of employees	~6,000 (2011)
Subsidiaries	Element Skateboards Von Zipper
Website	Billabong Surfwear

Billabong International Limited is a surf company, primarily a clothing retailer that also produces accessories, like watches and backpacks and skateboard and snowboard products under other brand-names. Founded in 1973 by Gordon and Rena Merchant, the company first traded on the Australian Securities Exchange on 11 August 2000. The name "billabong" is derived from the Wiradjuri word "bilabaŋ" that refers to a "creek that runs only during the rainy season". As of September 2013, Von Zipper, and Element are two of the prominent brands that Billabong owns. Honolua Surf Company, Kustom, Palmers Surf, Xcel, Tigerlily, Sector 9 and RVCA are the company's other brands.

From late 2012 onwards, following the company's decline in the period since 2008, Billabong International has been the subject of a protracted bidding process in which the company's former United States chief Paul Naude has been a participant. In the past 2 years, Billabong has used a corporate turnaround strategy to return the company to profitability, which it achieved in 2014.

In December 2016 former chief executive Matthew Perrin was found guilty of the fraud and forgery by a jury in the District Court in Brisbane, and was sentenced to jail in January 2017.

Billabong was founded in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia in 1973 by Gordon Merchant. At first, he designed and created board shorts at his home and then sold them to local surf shops. Surfers soon realized the durability of Merchant's shorts that was the result of his triple-stitching technique. Merchant understood that his company needed to expand to achieve success, so Billabong started to sponsor contests, which increased the public's awareness of Merchant's products and the company expanded. By the 1980s, Billabong board shorts were present throughout Australia.

Based upon his success in Australia, Merchant decided to export Billabong's products and, by the late 1980s, Merchant's board shorts were available in other countries, including New Zealand, Japan, and South Africa. In the 1990s, the surf industry as a whole grew significantly and Billabong was a part of this growth process. The company was first traded on the Australian Securities Exchange in mid-2000, which provided the company with the funds to further expand and acquire other companies.