OC surf-and-skate brand Volcom is sold to French company

PPR, which has some of the world's biggest labels (Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen), is buying the Costa Mesa-based company for $607.5 million. It's a cash deal that's priced 37 percent above the three-month average trading price of Volcom shares. Shop-eat-surf, which has several posts on the sale, asked Gotcha co-founder Michael Tomson what he thought of the deal:

"This is good news - finally Volcom has an opportunity to trade up to its potential. For years the brand with the highest authenticity rating in our industry has underwhelmed investors with mediocre financial results and a less than aggressive disposition towards growing the brand. Why? Probably because the original owners/operators would have had to step out of their comfort zone (core products for core stores) and into a theater of operations that is more complex and challenging.