POPEIL SET TO RELINQUISH REINS

Informercial legend negotiates sale of Ronco

by Scott Aronowitz

(Published: ResponseTV, May 1997)

Ron Popeil, one of the pioneer’s of the DRTV industry, is in negotiations to sell his company, Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Ronco Inc.

The man who used two young but growing media, the television and the toll-free telephone line, to market the Veg-O-Matic and the Popeil Pocket Fisherman is by no means leaving the business. But he is anxious to focus on his first love – developing products and designing the marketing for them.

“What I am trying to do,” says Popeil, “is to focus on the product development and get out of the day-to-day operation.”

Popeil is in negotiation for possible acquisition by one of a number of companies, most notably LA Group, Rochester, N.Y., and Kent & Spiegel, Culver City, Calif., but has declined to give detailis of the negotiations until they are finalized. At press time, Popeil maintained that no agreements had been reached and that any reports of activity would be premature.

One certainty in any deal, however. would be Popeil’s continuing to serve in an adjunct capacity for the buyer, contributing his expertise as a spokesperson and consultant, the traits that, along with strong product development, have built Ronco Inc. into such a desirable company for acquisition.

“I wouldn’t work in any way as an employee for any company,” he says, “but I will certainly offer my knowledge and support once a deal is reached.”

And what of the future of Ron Popeil, inventor, whose products are clearly the tangible behind Ronco’s success?

“I will keep inventing products, and marketing those products, until the day I die.”

{companion breaking news report follows}


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POPEIL SET TO RELINQUISH REINS

Suitor ‘premature’ with buyout announcement

by Scott Aronowitz

{companion breaking news report}
(Published: ResponseTV, May 1997)

“It’s premature! There’s no hard evidence of money. There is absolutely no basis for this announcement.”

This was Ron Popeil’s reaction to a press release issued by LA Group, the company that seems convinced their acquisition of Ronco Inc. is a done deal.

Popeil is planning to sell his company, Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Ronco Inc. LA Group, Rochester, N.Y., stated in a press release that Popeil has agreed to sell them his company.

What is apparently missing is a mutual agreement over the future of Ronco. In its place is a sharp discrepancy over just what stage the negotiations have reached.

According to a press release dated March 25 with the approval of President and CEO Daniel Fasano, LA Group has “entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Ronco Inc. and its affiliated companies for $25 million in cash and stock.”

Furthermore, according to the release, “Ron Popeil has agreed to act as the company’s spokesperson and marketing consultant.”

And the release quotes Fasano as saying, “With these acquisitions we now have some of the top infomercial products ... available today.”

Although these statements would seem to imply an agreement finalized and signed on the dotted line, Fasano says this is not quite the case. “It is very far along in the negotiation stages. The money is in place. The financing is in place. We have pretty much outlined 99 percent of the details.” But, he insists, “the word negotiation is still very much a part of this.”

More a part of it, perhaps, than Fasano is aware. “I’m still in negotiation with other companies,” says Popeil. “For them to lead people in this business into believing this is final is doing the public, and me, a disservice.”

Popeil is definitely interested in selling. But he says he made no final agreements to sell the company for a specific price to a specific buyer or to serve in any specific capacity for the new owner.

Fasano agrees that “the word definitive is not there.” But he is confident the deal will be finalized and approved the press release on that basis.

“As a public company, we wouldn’t disseminate this information if we didn’t have the financial backers to do this,” insists Fasano. Still, he admits there is some due diligence yet to complete. “There is some posturing left, but our intent is complete this agreement.”

Popeil says that he advised Fasano in a fax the same day that with only intentions and financing, and not a final agreement, LA Group should not have disseminated this information to shareholders, and certainly not to the press. And in fact, Popeil also insists he has seen no evidence of the financing.


“I have no indication as of yet that these people have the wherewithal to provide the money, regardless of how much we’re talking about.” In the meantime, though, “I am certainly continuing to talk and negotiate with other companies.”