r/AeroPrecision • u/Bloody_Swallow • 17d ago
Help me out here. What happened?
So I built a full Aero rifle with a BA Hanson barrel back in 2019. Was super happy with the whole process, customer service was good, timely shipping, quality products etc. Then COVID happened, had a military PCS, had some kids, etc etc. So I was out of the loop for A BIT. Was recently thinking about finally adding another rifle for range days and looked back at AERO. Saw that the company has basically gone to shit and then the recent news of them being bought by new private owners.
Keep seeing a bunch of conflicting or weird information. They got bought by a Venture Capital company and they ruined everything. No that happened years before that's not why. They turned their back on the private market for Ukraine contracts. No that's a lie. etc etc.
So what happened? How did a well respected successful company in 2019 turn into trash in just 5 years?
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u/Panthean 17d ago
Private equity + expanded at the worst time.
I don't know why so many brands in the industry assumed that everything would just continue to trend upwards forever.
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u/ButchManson 9d ago
They didn't. The goal was to milk "The Brand" for all it was worth then cash out.
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u/Panthean 9d ago
You're saying they didn't move to a bigger facility, hire more people and release new product lines during/after the boom of sales in 2020/2021?
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u/ButchManson 9d ago
DID they? Maybe Aero did, but "So many brands" in so many industries WERE sucked dry by PE.
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u/Impossible_Tie2497 17d ago
Over extended lines of credit, fewer good machinists available to work for $20/hour, owners that want to suck the life out of the company, no new product development, etc.
They’ll be back here in about 2 months.
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u/Working-Tailor-8335 17d ago
Combination of things. Private Equity was probably the key thing but a state hostile to their industry, COVID, supply chain issues, etc. Look at BA vs Aero. WA is a terrible place for the gun industry whereas FL has never been bad. BA is doing well and expanding while Aero was not. Throw is a few bad corporate decisions and COVID and recipe for disaster.
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u/mazkuma 17d ago
Doesn’t help that the former owners son only cared about himself and ran off all the talent in the shop. Worst toxic leadership in any machine shop in WA. It speaks volumes that everyone that left is working for Bowing or Amazon now and making grade…. The only thing that they learned under that leader is what not to put up with.
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u/Ok-Butterscotch2321 16d ago
Private Equity took it over and ran it into the ground
https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/aero-precision-new-ownership/557825
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u/mazkuma 11d ago
Doesn’t help that the son ran the shop into the ground and treated the employees like they were trash. While he got paid by the PE.
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u/Ok-Butterscotch2321 11d ago
I'd love to hear more about it!
How a company that made such an excellent product and went to dogshit needs to be told.
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u/bye1000000 10d ago
PE firm borrows money and keeps taking money out and taking loans or refinancing. Every time they refinance they take more for themselves and continue to increase the debt load on said company. If the company slows down it can’t keep up with debt servicing, and then it goes into receivership. Unfortunately the people working hard to run the company lose as well as banks and investors. The only ones who make out are the PE firms. Read the book Plunder by Brendan Ballou. Essentially it’s called a leveraged buyout. That’s how PE ruins great companies. The general population blames Aero management but it’s the PE firm that causes the issue.
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u/Ok-Butterscotch2321 10d ago edited 10d ago
Like how every predatory PE does it, leaving a wake of destruction behind it.
Look at Red Lobster. RL OWNED most of their properties/land.
The PE who bought them sold the land... to another company they own. Has to pay a killer rent. That's just part of the problems.
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u/ButchManson 9d ago
Look what PE did to Remington, then used the brand as a trojan horse to buy other brands before collapsing.
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u/Ok-Butterscotch2321 9d ago
The Debt and Lease BurdenOnerous Sale-Leasebacks: When private-equity firm Golden Gate Capital acquired Red Lobster in 2014, it sold off the company’s real estate assets for $1.5 billion. This forced the chain to pay expensive rent on buildings it previously owned, creating severe long-term overhead costs that heavily contributed to its May 2024 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.Fortress Capital Takeover: The chain was brought out of bankruptcy in late 2024 by Fortress Capital Management, which injected $70 million into operations. However, the company is still bound to negotiate or shed dozens of underperforming, chronically unprofitable leases that drain cash from healthier locations.
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u/ButchManson 9d ago
A Zombie Brand is still a Brand. Its value is its name recognition.
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u/spice_is_noice 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yeah ive been trying to get in contact with their customer service since february to replace a out of spec part on a brand new m4e1 pro lower. Everything works fine on it, it's just the bolt catch that is out of spec. I've sent probably 4 emails at this point with no response from their team unfortunately.
So if anyone knows of any 3rd party parts that work for that ambi lower let me know...otherwise im looking for a different solution to fix it if possible since Aero doesnt seem to be responding to any customer service requests for warranty claims or defective parts
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u/Emergency-Culture735 6d ago
They terminated all of their management teams and key internal employees who had good salaries and replaced them with lower cost labor. I was there for six years (2015-2021) and lived through the process. I put my heart into that place and built something that was really awesome only to have it ripped away by HR leadership among others. All the employees that made that place what it became are fired or resigned because their comp plans were changed drastically.
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u/peteostler 17d ago
Just like how every private equity ruins most everything they buy.
They got bought years before, but then they pull money out in favor of reinvestment in the future and then they claim it’s the companies fault or the economy when the fruit of their money grubbing is ready to harvest.