Marucci Sports started in 2004 in the River Bend backyard of Kurt Ainsworth, a former Catholic High and LSU pitcher whose professional baseball career was derailed by injuries.
By 2016, more than one-third of major league hitters were swinging Marucci bats, the company was selling a wide array of sports equipment and apparel, and shareholders included baseball legends like Nolan Ryan, Albert Pujols and David Ortiz.
“We had no idea that it would take off as fast as it did,” Ainsworth told Business Report at the time.
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He probably could not have envisioned the trajectory the company he co-founded with LSU training guru Jack Marucci and former professional baseball player Joe Lawrence would take from there. The company sold for $200 million in 2020, then sold again to Fox Factory Holding Company, which makes products for bicycles, motorcycles, trucks and specialty vehicles, in a $572 million deal announced Thursday.
“We look forward to leveraging their innovation and growth success as we expand our sales reach and breadth,” Ainsworth, Marucci’s CEO, says in a prepared statement.
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The transaction is subject to terms and conditions, including regulatory approval, and is expected to close later this month. While there is no immediate word of how the ownership change will affect the company’s local presence, the company announced plans for a new 100,000-square-foot distribution center in Geismar just last year.
Marucci Sports was named a Business Report “company of the year” in 2016.
This story originally appeared in a Nov. 3 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.