Revell-Monogram Under New Ownership - Again!

This morning, Hobbico, an employee-owned hobby supply and distribution company with about 700 employees, bought Revell-Monogram. Hobbico is known for being primarily a purveyor of radio control hobby products, but in recent years has branched out with their Model Maker line of 1/24-1/25 scale display cases, diorama accessories, and motorized display turntables. With the acquisition of Revell-Monogram, Hobbico is now a plastic model manufacturer.

With the acquisition, it has been said that Ed Sexton will once again head Product Development, and Jim Foster will again be the company's president. Commentary read on various message boards is of the opinion that Revell with now have additional resources and capital to bring out new products.

History Lesson (Class, pay attention!!!)

Revell, owned by Lew and Royal Glaser since its inception in the late 1940s, was sold to toymaker Ceji of France in the late 1970s. Ceji sold Revell to a private equity firm, Odyssey Partners, in 1986, at which time Monogram Models was also acquired by Odyssey. The two companies operated separately, though sharing tooling and marketing resources, until 1991, when the companies were officially merged to form Revell-Monogram, and the company taken public and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1995, Revell-Monogram and its sister company Revell Germany were acquired by Hallmark and operated as a division of Binney & Smith, the makers of Crayola crayons. In 1997, the individual Revell and Monogram brands were merged to reflect both company names on all products. In 1998, the Monogram name was phased out, leaving only Revell as the surviving brand (though in later years, some kits would be reissued as Monogram for hobby shop distribution only.) In 2003, Revell-Monogram was sold to Alpha International of Iowa, makers of Gearbox Collectibles. In 2004, Revell-Monogram was purchased from Alpha International by a consortium of Revell and Monogram management known as The Revell Group, closed the historic Monogram plant in Morton Grove, Illinois, moved to its present headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois, and consolidated manufacturing operations in China. In early 2007, Revell Germany was purchased by a consortium of their own managers and split off from Revell USA, though the two companies continued their marketing and molding arrangements. On May 2, 2007, Revell-Monogram was acquired by Hobbico.