Back in October 2015, Italian supercar giant Ferrari IPO’d on the New York Stock Exchange at $60 a share. The last seven months haven’t been a ride in the fast lane for Ferrari, however. Disappointing revenue figures have caused the stock to plunge over 20%, with today’s closing price around $44 a share. That’s a little bit of a bounce back from it’s dismal low of $32 a share on February 11, but still a loss for those who went long on the company when they entered the public markets.
So how is Ferrari planning on drumming up some much-needed revenue to grow their stock value? Theme-parks. Ripping a page from the business playbook of Disney, Hershey Foods, and Anheuser-Busch back in the day, one of the world’s most iconic high-end luxury cars wants to give the proletariat the Ferrari experience IRL. There is already a Ferrari world in Dubai, along with plans in the works for one in Spain and China. Next up? U-S-A, baby. Well, uh… maybe. Via Bloomberg:
One area where Ferrari has had notable success is in licensing the brand to amusement parks. Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, which features racing-themed rides like the Formula Rossa roller coaster, will be joined by Ferrari Land near Barcelona next year. A third park is being developed in China, and there are plans for a site in North America as well. The trademark red of the brand’s Formula 1 cars features prominently in the developments.
Hell yeah at the opportunity to whip a Ferrari around a track for a $100. You can already do that in a lot of places (I did it in the parking lot of MetLife Stadium a few months ago), but the Ferrari theme park will be a real deal.
The question remains about Ferrari’s overall identity crisis. When a schmucky overweight blogger who still eats Fruit Loops for lunch can buy a Ferrari hat in a 7-11 for $5, is it really a luxury brand? Bloomberg, again:
“Ferrari has an identity crisis,” said Adam Wyden, founder of ADW Capital Partners in Washington. “They told the world they are a luxury-good company so they should start behaving like Hermes or Loro Piana with their status-symbol supercars. It’s not about selling T-shirts or caps” to racing fans.
So Ferrari World — Would you go or save your money for a Netflix and chill sesh?
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Does the world really need more jackasses who own Ferraris but don’t know how to drive them, like this guy?