Mike Wolf is retiring

[gregj410]

What I want to know is where has Mitch been in the middle of all this chaos

[rthomps]

Mike Wolf will live long in the hobby ... but the bad karma will live far longer.

[Neil]

It will be interesting to see how Mike Wolf and MTH extract themselves from this public relations mess, assuming they can do so. They've survived lots of other less than brilliant decisions before, so it's not without precedent. But it is looking particularly grim at the moment.

Can't say that I care all that much, except for the employees, dealers and hobbyists that put their faith in the guy and his company.

Scrambling to figure out what their future is, which isn't a pleasant way to pass the day . Hope they built up some savings from the happier times in the past.

[Chris Webster]

It will be interesting to see how Mike Wolf and MTH extract themselves from this public relations mess, assuming they can do so.

It was inevitable -- proprietary electronics and proprietary software always loses to open standards and open source software.

Hope they built up some savings from the happier times in the past.

As I posted above, he bought his building on 10/06/1997 for $928,485 and sold it on April 17, 2020 for $14,500,000 -- 13.5 million dollars more than he paid for it. If he never refinanced the building then he would be a millionaire.

On the other hand, I used to live in the DC suburbs and bought my first home there about a year after Mike bought his building. Back then, it seemed like everyone I knew (friends, coworkers, women I dated, etc.) were only able to afford living in DC by constantly refinancing their homes and taking out equity each time interest rates dropped. It's interesting to think about Mike doing the same -- with $13.5 million in appreciation over 22 years, he could have been pulling about a half a million a year in real estate appreciation each year to keep MTH going and/or paying attorneys.

[Neil]

I suspect Mike Wolf is in fine shape financially. The issue I raised was about his employees who didn't have any equity interest in the business, which I suspect was all of them. And that's part of the current dilemma I would guess. No one has any say in the future except Mike Wolf himself. And if he doesn't like the conditions the employees are willing to offer for taking over, he can walk away and close the show down, which is apparently the current plan.

[G3750]

It will be interesting to see how Mike Wolf and MTH extract themselves from this public relations mess, assuming they can do so.

It was inevitable -- proprietary electronics and proprietary software always loses to open standards and open source software.
[quote]

That isn't necessarily true. If you build a decent product and it becomes the standard you can make a lot of money. DCS is neither.

As for his building, that might be the most valuable tangible asset he has.

George

[G3750]

I suspect Mike Wolf is in fine shape financially. The issue I raised was about his employees who didn't have any equity interest in the business, which I suspect was all of them. And that's part of the current dilemma I would guess. No one has any say in the future except Mike Wolf himself. And if he doesn't like the conditions the employees are willing to offer for taking over, he can walk away and close the show down, which is apparently the current plan.

Yes, I agree. I think his exit has more in common with Maury Kline's than might be apparent at first glance.

George

[HONDO74]

If the company has been up for sale for over a year while the economy was doing so well and anyone that had an interest was able to see the books. There is a possibility the company was bleeding red. The headquarters building has been sold and maybe Mike didn't want to use up his retirement money to keep it afloat.

What is amusing is watching all those that were loyal to MTH crap their pants. Did Mike ever feel any loyalty to anyone but himself ?. I have always been of the opinion that back in the early 90s that he threw Jerry Williams under the buss.

This is for Neil. Are you still pissed with Mike because he had your picture on a dart board in his office. That was the rumor.

[ScaleCraft]

Seen this before. Only the names have been changed.
When AristoCrap died off, all those who had a deep interest, engines, rolling stock, track, controls.....crapped their collective pants.
And then it was gone. Crest had been spun off earlier, Navin runs it for controls. Wasn't long we heard Kader asked Botchman to market the Aristo line (and if you're wondering why cryptic words are used, I have run into crawlers searching for reference to specific words.....that's all I'm gonna say), and Botchman refused. Fast forward several years, now stuff IS being marketed, same stuff, different name on the bottom of the motor blocks and boxes.

LGB had a similar fiasco, but it involved what, three bankruptcies? How many "saviors" closing doors?
Simba Dickie ended up with it, and every once in a while they make some North American prototype stuff, but it was so many years, the customer base was gone.

I remember the marketing analysis provided, not the specifics, less than 2 years with no product, lose a smallish percentage of customers. After 2, goes up exponentially, after 5, effectively you've lost them all.

If this goes dormant for too long there will be no resurrection. But the zero option to continue is really going to hurt those invested in the line.
Maybe we can talk QSI into re-producing their ACRU and DCRU to keep Mikey's stuff running when the DCS dies.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

As I posted above, he bought his building on 10/06/1997 for $928,485 and sold it on April 17, 2020 for $14,500,000 -- 13.5 million dollars more than he paid for it. If he never refinanced the building then he would be a millionaire.

On the other hand, I used to live in the DC suburbs and bought my first home there about a year after Mike bought his building. Back then, it seemed like everyone I knew (friends, coworkers, women I dated, etc.) were only able to afford living in DC by constantly refinancing their homes and taking out equity each time interest rates dropped. It's interesting to think about Mike doing the same -- with $13.5 million in appreciation over 22 years, he could have been pulling about a half a million a year in real estate appreciation each year to keep MTH going and/or paying attorneys.

Not knowing the details of what equity or not he had in the building renders this all to speculation. The machinations of real estate in the area are at best complex.

[Neil]

"This is for Neil. Are you still pissed with Mike because he had your picture on a dart board in his office. That was the rumor."

I wasn't so much pissed as amazed that he took it so personally . Obviously really got under his skin.

I'm sure he is much offended by the New England Patriots wiping the floor with the Dolphins the last 20 years or so.

[Neil]

"Maybe we can talk QSI into re-producing their ACRU and DCRU to keep Mikey's stuff running when the DCS dies."

Is QSI still operating?

[Roy]

The new boss at Wo Fat's Train House:

[ScaleCraft]

"Maybe we can talk QSI into re-producing their ACRU and DCRU to keep Mikey's stuff running when the DCS dies."

Is QSI still operating?

Yes. Altho not sure from week to week exactly what it is they are doing. Year ago I had a chat on the phone with one of the folks there.

[chuck]

They have their own message board and there are posts and responses as of May 2020.

They mainly specialize in HO right now but they do advertise that they are providing stuff to Sunset/3rd Rail for 2 O scale Rail models.