FX USA Is CLOSED!

FX Sweden or FX AB (?) had no skin in the game and should not have to pay for Jon Tueller's doings..

From the www.law360.com brief:

"FX Airguns and Tueller formed a joint venture in 2017; Tueller had a 40% stake. The Swedish company claims Tueller had the upper hand due to his superior understanding of American law and business."

That would imply that FX Sweden had a 60% share of a joint venture, but apparently granted Tueller managing partner status due to his familiarity with the U.S. market. Since it appears all this finally came to a head in the last few weeks, I'm guessing FX Sweden will step in and straighten things out after the dust has settled. I read somewhere that Utah Airguns is taking over for FX USA. It sounds like FX Sweden is already moving forward with contingency plans. I can't imagine FX Sweden walking away from the U.S. market.

And if FX Sweden is a 60% partner in FX USA, they will also be liable for U.S. customer claims of damage done to them by FX USA. And I can't imagine FX Sweden not honoring those claims once they have been sorted out. But it could very well be a pain for U.S. customers in the short run.

Only time will tell.
 
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Why isn't Ernest and others on here speaking out?
According to the complaint filed with the court, the individuals who own the entity that owns 40% of FX USA have done things that may result in criminal charges being brought against them. That aside, the potential civil penalties appear huge, so no one would want to risk being brought in as a co-defendant in the civil action either. I expect that they have been advised to have no comment. Some of the current employees could remain employed, if the company should continue operations under a court-appointed receiver. If the court filing is generally accurate, Mr. Axelsson may decide to abandon the FX USA concept, and do business through a master dealer here, and have that dealer take over the service and repair side. He would give up some profit, but would not have the investment in capital assets, would have no employee responsibilities, and would be paid on timely basis by a credit worthy company.
 
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From the www.law360.com brief:

"FX Airguns and Tueller formed a joint venture in 2017; Tueller had a 40% stake. The Swedish company claims Tueller had the upper hand due to his superior understanding of American law and business."

That would imply that FX Sweden had a 60% share of a joint venture, but apparently granted Tueller managing partner status due to his familiarity with the U.S. market. Since it appears all this finally came to a head in the last few weeks, I'm guessing FX Sweden will step in and straighten things out after the dust has settled. I read somewhere that Utah Airguns is taking over for FX USA. It sounds like FX Sweden is already moving forward with contingency plans. I can't imagine FX Sweden walking away from the U.S. market.

And if FX Sweden is a 60% partner in FX USA, they will also be liable for U.S. customer claims of damage done to them by FX USA. And I can't imagine FX Sweden not honoring those claims once they have been sorted out. But it could very well be a pain for U.S. customers in the short run.

Only time will tell.
Actually, FX Sweden might not have legal liability for FX USA actions, especially if they can show the kind of mismanagement by the local minority owners that is alleged. Plus, the majority owner is another LLC, not FX Sweden. That's one reason for creating such a structure. Legal liability aside, I think you are right, and honoring the claims of retail customers will be important.
 
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I notice from LinkedIn that Tueller also hails from my adopted state of Utah. Indeed his daughter recently served a mission for the LDS church. In case you’ve never visited, we have beautiful mountains, sunny skies year round and the highest rate of affinity fraud in the nation. I guess people at FX still have some “faith” in Utah.

Is it 'fate' that bring FX to Utah Airguns ?
 
Whichever way you slice it, this will take years to sort out with receivers and FX will recover a small % of losses. We see these stories on local news in UT weekly. I have 4 FX in total and I like em all, but I wouldn’t buy another one now simply because they will be operating in a financial ratchet. I don’t care for brand loyalty and had all the consoles as a kid. As for culpability, FX chooses its employees and partners. Living in Utah, I have learned to steer clear of people (like Tueller) whose employment profiles show enmeshment with nutritional supplements, essential oils or other MLM magic potions. Those folks work on the assumption that the almighty will bail them out of any mess. I surmise that Swedish people don’t know the lie of this land. However, having spent a lot of time in UA, my sense is that those folks are not involved in that dirty scene. In fact, UA is IMHO one of the cleanest, welcoming and friendly retail outfits of any that I have entered. Justin is a consummate professional who has time for everyone, beginner to pro. I’m sure that the transition will be tough but that they will be giving it 110%.
 
There are a few questions here. The place that just lost six mill..... will FX take it in the shorts for six mil? Likely not. It will have to be made up somewhere.......increased prices seems likely so for some it might be a buy now decision. Companies don't absorb losses, they spread them around to their customers.

How capable is Sweden of absorbing such a loss and staying in business. They have suppliers they have to satisfy.

Warranties.......many purchased expensive guns with the faith that warranties would protect their investment.
The company that just lost six mil is not likely to do so. Part of the sales price of the guns by the distributor is actually warranty costs. Sweden does not own. them.

Utah is a great outfit, it is unlikely that they will warranty countless issues on guns that they had no interest in.

Perhaps the former employees can team together and make repairs of good quality IF they have parts source but they won't be free.

Where did remaining inventory(?? ) go or was it already robbing Peter to pay Paul.......It may be that the only inventory in the states is in the hands of current dealers........with no warranty except for Utah direct purchases

Time will answer, but I would not make any FX purchase until the smoke has thoroughly cleared. I'm glad I held off and the V3 looks more inviting than ever for now.

an internet search indicates that FX Sweden has about $17.2 mil in gross sales with a net of $2.7 mil. Wow, the bad guys really got to them.
 
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Just realized that there are two threads going here on AN about FX-USA, so here is a cross post from the other thread...

FXUA.JPG


 
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I'd much rather deal with Utah Airguns anyway. I bought a used FX Crown on Black Friday last year from them. I had it hydro dipped first before they shipped it. It came with no air in it, so I knew something was wrong. I called them immediately, and they had me ship it back on their dime. They replaced everything but the barrel and stock. So I ended up with a basically new FX for the price of a used one. They had it back to me the next week. I would almost be that no one from now on will end up with their airgun stuck for extended period of time waiting on them to get around to fixing it.
 
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I went to the FX HQ a couple years ago it wasn’t any sort of a Taj Mahal then. Hard to read much into Jon and his wife, nice enough, they did appear to like the finer things and being perceived as airgun royalty. As a FX dealer I can say they weren’t the easiest most organized company to deal with and there are lots of things about the Airgun ”industry” and FX specifically, I don’t like. The heavy buying of YouTube influencers is a big one that I’m sick of! But when things go sideways in business all kinds of crap gets thrown about and fingers pointed so I’d wait to see what is sifted out. I have concerns about UA, AoA made it impossible for a local dealer to compete against their supplier and I hope UA has a different approach. FX itself is by far the most innovative company currently out there and I’m confident they‘ll recover. The industry itself gives me a lot of concerns. There’s no way the market can support the number of companies currently fighting for share in this small pond. I’d still rather be FX than any other competitor.
 
I retired in 2019 from a job providing nuclear fuel and related hardware to electric utility customers. One of the plants that built product is in Sweden. I made one trip there with customers and talked to co-workers in Sweden often. College educated people in Sweden speak English fluently but they do not understand as much as you would think. They normally will not tell you they don't understand, you have to watch carefully. My Swedish co-workers were never confrontational - much more calm and peaceful than my American co-workers. Their engineering was great. Their business acumen was noticably worse. Given that history, seeing FX ab having the issue their complaint describes is credible. My experience is that Swedish people's strength is with the technical and they would rather not mess with the commercial/business side of things. Nothing in my experience makes me reluctant to buy a Swedish airgun, I just don't like their magazine placement in their bullpups (I shoot from my left shoulder).
 
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