Type Private Website www.princetennis.com | Industry Sporting goods Founded 1970 | |
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Products Rackets, Footwear, Apparel, Accessories, Ball Machines, Tennis Equipment Profiles | ||
Prince Global Sports, LLC, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a manufacturer and distributor of racket sports equipment, footwear and apparel for tennis, squash and badminton.
History
The company was founded in 1970 by Robert H. McClure of Princeton, New Jersey (hence the name Prince) as a manufacturer of tennis ball machines, and went on to manufacture rackets. Howard Head, founder of the Head Ski Company, took tennis lessons following his retirement (his company was acquired by AMF in 1969). He used one of the tennis ball machines made by Prince, but was frustrated by his slow improvement in the game. Head joined the company in the early 1970s and developed the company's signature oversized tennis racket. Although the Prince Classic aluminum racket was the first oversized racquet to be patented, the Bentley Fortissimo preceded the patent by two years, causing Germany to invalidate it.
The company has been owned by a variety of different firms, including at the Benetton Group of Italy and Chesebrough-Ponds, and Nautic Partners, a Providence, Rhode Island-based private equity firm.
In July 2012, Authentic Brands Group officially acquired the Prince brand name from Nautic Partners. By September 2012, the Waitt Company, an Omaha, Nebraska,-based investment company, agreed to a 40-year license to operate the Prince brand across North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India. Prince Global Sports is now operating as a subsidiary of Athletic Brands Holding Company which is majority owned by the Waitt Company. The company's portfolio of brands also includes Ektelon, Viking and Battle.
In March 2014, Prince announced that they were moving their headquarters to Atlanta.