appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . march 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message nixon inc. founded 1997 headquarters encinitas united states products wristwatches accessories apparel headphones portable speakers website http www.nixon.com founded in 1997 1 in encinitas california nixon is an american watches accessories and audio brand . focused on the youth lifestyle market nixon s range of team designed custom built products was first introduced at retail via independent boardsport retailers including surf skate & snow shops . the brand s range and popularity quickly grew to include distribution in specialty boutique and fashion stores including barneys new york fred segal 10 corso como beams japan colette better watch retailers and more . currently sold in 80 countries worldwide 2 nixon has also opened stand alone retail stores in berkeley california as well as bondi & melbourne australia and kuta bali . contents 1 history 2 purchase 3 watches 4 headphones 5 nixon surf challenge 6 nixon jibfest 7 references 8 external links history edit nixon was founded by andy laats and chad dinenna after dinenna s unsuccessful attempt to find a watch that reflected his personal style . both laats and dinenna worked in the action sports industry and were introduced through mutual people working in those circles . laats a former snowboard product manager at burton with an engineering degree from cornell university was in the process of earning his master of business administration mba from stanford university when he and dinenna met to discuss the start up of nixon . 3 dinenna originally from southern california had studied communications at california state university long beach and previously worked in publishing at transworld media for five years prior to the launch of nixon . 4 laats and dinenna raised nearly us 1 million from venture capitalists to start nixon and in 1997 the debut catalog was released ; seven models were released through 200 retailers . nixon opened a subsidiary in france in 2000 and by 2005 had 90 models and 60 employees with sales growing by 55 percent annually . 5 purchase edit in december 2006 nixon was acquired by billabong international for approximately us 55 million and a deferred payment of approximately us 76 million in fy 2012 . 6 during the spring of 2012 after six years under the billabong umbrella of brands nixon once again became an independent brand . nixon established an agreement with trilantic capital partners tcp and billabong each of which now owns a 48.5 % stake in the brand with the balance 3 % held by nixon management including laats and dinenna . 7 the resulting transaction values nixon at approximately us 464 million representing a multiple of approximately 9.2 x ltm ebitda . 8 9 10 watches edit nixon s the banks watch . it features a dial that keeps the seconds and a third dial to have the time in another time zone . headphones edit in 2009 nixon released its first audio products with a line of fashion conscious headphones and has since continued in this category with higher quality offerings and portable speakers . nixon surf challenge edit the nixon surf challenge started out as a group of befriended nixon team riders sharing waves together and has since developed into an annual and much anticipated event . contrary to traditional high stress competitions the nixon surf challenge is all about having fun a relaxed atmosphere and an emphasis on free surfing and style . participants are hand picked in this invite only event drawing talents from all around the world . in the end the team joins together to crown a winner following a non traditional scoring system a unique feature of the contest and something that transworld surf has called a refreshing change . 11 since 2000 nixon has hosted the surf challenge near the spanish french border in san sebasti n spain and has featured a 10 000 prize purse . with a diverse history and natural beaches it has long been considered a favorite surfing spot in europe by invited riders . for its ten year anniversary the event was brought to lofoten islands norway . in 2012 the contest was brought to la graciosa in the canary islands of spain . nixon jibfest edit jibbing is snowboard speak for doing skateboarding inspired tricks like sliding on obstacles the first mention of it came during a 1989 interview with pro snowboarder nick perata . conversations to create an invite only event that would elevate the level of contemporary snowboarding with custom courses and obstacles first came to nixon via jeremy jones jp walker and dave downing in the late 90s . citation needed from those early brainstorming sessions the nixon jibfest was born . with the expert help of snow park technologies chris gunny gunnarson the nixon jibfest has seen its fair share of custom one of a kind and often feared features including some of the more known features as seen in mack dawg productions stand & deliver decade and the jibfest documentary films . citation needed in 2011 after an eight year hiatus the nixon jibfest returned as the premier invite only snowboarding event . the revitalized contest brought with it a new custom course a new crop of invited riders and a new jibbers playground . all was documented for an web series that launched on vice.com 12 references edit http www.utsandiego.com uniontrib 20050618 news 1b18nixon.html 1 watch company skates through cultural boundaries watch company targets action sports athletes teams with billabong local watch company with funny name nixon makes itself a part of the action sports lifestyle nixon watches sold to billabong billabong s partial sell of nixon generates 285 million towards debt payment plus the changing tide of action sports . label networks . 17 february 2012 . retrieved 27 april 2016 . private equity firm invests in nixon watches accessories february 17 2012 business journals inc.retrieved 29 april 2012 . billabong to axe 400 jobs in major revamp . sydney morning herald . aap . 17 february 2012 . retrieved 17 february 2012 . manning maria 17 february 2012 . billabong establishes nixon join venture pdf . billabong international limited . p. 2 . retrieved 17 february 2012 . http www.transworldsurf.com surf pressrelease article 0 19929 1217035 00.html http www.nixon.com happenings the return of the nixon jibfest 4219.html external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title nixon company & oldid 734736996 categories watch brandssurfwear brandscompanies established in 1997swimwear manufacturersskateboarding companiessnowboarding companiesamerican brandshidden categories wikipedia articles with possible conflicts of interest from march 2014all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from november 2012 navigation 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