It was entertaining content, it was a cool lifestyle business, but how profitable was it, really? Even if the content covered their costs (inc. payroll), would they still have a show without KB bankrolling a crazy new car build OR car builders willing to "invest" in getting their name out if it wasn't tied to as large a brand name as KB? Do the drag race or "lemme show you my build" videos really make that much money as a business to cover payroll? I dunno.
I suspect their biggest bankroller unfortunately got squished by a snowmobile (which goes to show you those things are $@#$@#$ dangerous -- if Ken M-Fn Block cannot ride them safely there's a reason they are one of the most dangeous vehicles sold).
I know there are other folks who can drive as similarly flamboyantly, have similarly popular names (Travis Pastrana comes to mind), and have made Gymkhana videos... but how many are willing to continue doing these builds under the Hoonigan brand... instead of their own (TP199)
At some point, you've got to consider: do you try to keep this going until Lia Block becomes a big enough brand name (she just won her first Rally Championship -
https://www.hagerty.com/media/motor...ter-of-ken-wins-her-first-rally-championship/) that she can carry on the family brand? After all, Danica Patrick was one of the worst drivers in Nascar BUT still a top draw and money maker (if only they let her improve OR left her in open wheel vs rushing her into the top tier of murrican racin' -
).
OR, do you cash out while there is still existing revenue from prior content, employees to generate that revenue, and merch sales b/c of nostalgia by playing the greater fool theory.
Honestly, if faced with the same situation, I'd do the same: even if Hoonigan as a brand dies, if Lia improved as a racer and became more of a public figure (she's still a kid), the Block name could become as synonymous with rally/drifting/whatever as Earnhardt is to Nascar.
Do you remember that crazy Porsche tuner Gemballa? The original brand was sold off years ago (still operates now) but Uwe's son started another boutique company - Marc Philipp Gemballa doing the exact same thing (crazy porsches for supercar money).
PS. If I was going to burn ths kind of cash on a Porsche, I'd buy a Singer or a Tuthill Porsche 911K.
, and when they moved the much bigger place in Compton to resume on-site antics it didn’t have nearly the wild and crazy entertainment value of the old much smaller loading dock where people would bring in really nice cars and frequently have close calls and sometimes rip off their bumpers on walls or crash into the gates from the tight space.
Win-win.
