AMF Bowling

In 1985, corporate raider Irwin L. Jacobs's Minstar, Inc. bought AMF Inc. and began to sell its various business divisions.

[3] Private equity firm Code Hennessy & Simmons bought the company in 2004 for $670 million to bring it out of bankruptcy.

The transaction was financed in part by a $254 million sale and lease-back of 186 bowling centers to iStar Financial.

Shortly after, the company began shedding its “non-core, foreign assets” to focus on improving the operations of its remaining centers.

[3] Fred Hipp, the former California Pizza Kitchen top executive who became president and CEO in 2004, said the strategy would now be to “bring as much focus as possible to the management of our core U.S. center and bowling products businesses.

In its filing the company cited the challenge of adjusting to “the marked shift in the average bowling customer”.

In 1991 the company hired former PepsiCo executive Mark Willoughby to head the bowling center business.

[11] When Goldman Sachs acquired the company in 1996, its strategy was to clean up purchased properties and create a national chain of amusement complexes.

[4] When it entered bankruptcy for the second time in 2012, the company observed, “In the 1960s and 70s… the typical bowler was a blue collar factory worker who belonged to one or more bowling leagues.

In February 2014, the principals of bowling ball manufacturer Storm Products, Inc. made a significant investment in 900 Global.

In December 2014, the Qubica original founders acquired the 50% interest held by Bowlmor AMF (Bowlero), bringing the manufacturing and marketing of AMF-branded bowling equipment under the full control of QubicaAMF Worldwide.