World Industries is a skateboarding company that offers skateboarding products, accessories and clothing. The company was founded by Steve Rocco in 1987. In 1988, Rocco was joined by skater, Rodney Mullen, and then Mike Vallely in 1989. As of 2007, World Industries is owned by i.e. Distribution. It also makes and sells Longboards
In late-1989, Mark Gonzales approached Rocco with the desire to be involved in his own company. Gonzales was riding for Vision, which was the largest skateboard company at the time. Gonzales and Rocco decided to name the company Blind, in contrast to Gonzales' former sponsor. Jason Lee, who was, at the time, a World Industries team member, assisted with the development of the brand.
In 1991, wanting to break from H-Street, co-founder Mike Ternasky formed the company Plan B with an exclusive production and distribution alliance with World Industries. In the deal, Plan B marketed itself from San Diego while World Industries did the rest, paying a royalty fee to Plan B.
Restructure and growth
The years of 1996 to 1999 were years of significant restructuring and explosive growth for the company, led by the newly appointed executives, and subsequent shareholders, CEO Frank Messman and CFO Scott Drouillard. By the end of 1998, World Industries and Blind had achieved the status of number one and number two brands in skateboard hardgoods. This was in large part due to the re-positioning of the brands with Marc McKee's hugely popular cartoon characters of Devilman, Flame Boy and Wet Willy for World Industries, and the "Blind Reaper" for Blind..
Kubic Marketing
In October 1998, Steve Rocco and his then five other shareholder partners, sold a 70% majority interest of the company to an outside private equity group, SPC, while maintaining all key management and employees. The company was valued at $29 million at the point of sale. A parent company emerged by the name of Kubic Marketing which owned World Industries and Dwindle Distribution. In 1999, the parent company Kubic bought the then-largest retailer CCS in the skateboard industry for $21 million. In 2000, due to financial issues, the company sold CCS to Alloy, a publicly listed company for approximately $50 million.
On June 25, 2007, Globe International Limited sold the World Industries brand to i.e. Distribution. As of February 2014, World Industries continues to sponsor a team of skateboarders; however, an official promotional flyer appeared on February 6, 2014, following the addition of a skateboard deck line to team rider Anthony Shetler's clothing brand "All I Need". The flyer states: "Shetler and Timmy Knuth will have pro models," but as of February 20, 2014, both Shetler and Knuth remain on the World Industries website as team members, and no further information has been released.
In 2007, Whyte House Productions released The Man Who Souled the World, a documentary about Steve Rocco and the creation of World Industries, as well as his other skateboard related companies and ventures. The film release was accompanied by a skateboard art exhibition titled, "Censorship is Weak as F##k."
