WENGER CEO PETER HUG IS LEAVING THE COMPANY

[@beergrylls]

http://www.victorinox.com/ch/content/news_page/news-wenger-ceo?lang=en

[Grant Lamontagne]

I got an email from Peter earlier this week about this.  It seems there's no position for him in the new setup.

I'm sure Peter has a place to go beyond Wenger, and I hope very much that it's with a business that is in line with what we do because Peter is a great guy to do business with, as well as a great guy to talk to.

Whatever he does, I wish him the best.

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

[AimlessWanderer]

Sad ... but understandable 

Thanks for everything Peter  Wengers are not just my most carried Swiss Army Knife, but my most carried pocket knife! Normally I have a Traveller/Evo 14 or a Pocket Tool Chest/Evo 88 but today I was working in the garden with a Ranger as tool of choice. Not only have you been a great figurehead for the Company, but unlike many others in your field you have engaged with the community, and I hope this isn't the last MTo has heard of Peter Hug.

All the very best in your future endeavours 

[ICanFixThat]

OMG! 

This might be the first publicly visible failure in the merger attempt.  Good people don't come by everyday.

[Gareth]

Very sad news indeed.   Peter has been a good friend to MT.org as can been seen by the fact he took the time to record this for our last anniversary.

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,38731.msg621165.html#msg621165

I'm sure everyone here wants to wish Peter all the best in whatever he gets involved in next.

[kirk13]

Very sad news indeed.   Peter has been a good friend to MT.org as can been seen by the fact he took the time to record this for our last anniversary.

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,38731.msg621165.html#msg621165

I'm sure everyone here wants to wish Peter all the best in whatever he gets involved in next.

Big +1 to that!

So long Peter and thanks for all the SAKs!

[ColoSwiss]

As a major fan of Wenger I'm sorry to see him go.

Best of luck, Peter!

[sawman]

I am a big fan of Wenger also and this is terrible news.  I hope he is able to find a position comparable to this one.

Best of luck Peter 

[papercut]

Steve, see if you can get him to make a special run of SIs with the old Professional series tools, all red alox too! 

Since he is going maybe he can break protocol for us!

Quick like!

[Nhoj]

Sad ... but understandable 

Thanks for everything Peter  Wengers are not just my most carried Swiss Army Knife, but my most carried pocket knife! Normally I have a Traveller/Evo 14 or a Pocket Tool Chest/Evo 88 but today I was working in the garden with a Ranger as tool of choice. Not only have you been a great figurehead for the Company, but unlike many others in your field you have engaged with the community, and I hope this isn't the last MTo has heard of Peter Hug.

All the very best in your future endeavours 

50ft-trad knows where his priorities are at, Wenger is awesome! I'm so sad to see it go. I've grown to like Wenger more than Victorinox for a while now. I love Wenger dearly and will carry Wenger knives for years to come. Long live Wenger!

[Teofilo]

Sad ... but understandable 

Thanks for everything Peter  Wengers are not just my most carried Swiss Army Knife, but my most carried pocket knife! Normally I have a Traveller/Evo 14 or a Pocket Tool Chest/Evo 88 but today I was working in the garden with a Ranger as tool of choice. Not only have you been a great figurehead for the Company, but unlike many others in your field you have engaged with the community, and I hope this isn't the last MTo has heard of Peter Hug.

All the very best in your future endeavours 

50ft-trad knows where his priorities are at, Wenger is awesome! I'm so sad to see it go. I've grown to like Wenger more than Victorinox for a while now. I love Wenger dearly and will carry Wenger knives for years to come. Long live Wenger!

I am very saddened by this news! I know Eddie, Donald, Gabriel and the others here feel the same way!
I love Wenger, and very proud owner of their products! To you Peter..

[Freudian Frog]

I'd like to give the man a... hug.

I'll leave on my own. ._.

[Goatlord666]

Sad ... but understandable 

Thanks for everything Peter  Wengers are not just my most carried Swiss Army Knife, but my most carried pocket knife! Normally I have a Traveller/Evo 14 or a Pocket Tool Chest/Evo 88 but today I was working in the garden with a Ranger as tool of choice. Not only have you been a great figurehead for the Company, but unlike many others in your field you have engaged with the community, and I hope this isn't the last MTo has heard of Peter Hug.

All the very best in your future endeavours 

50ft-trad knows where his priorities are at, Wenger is awesome! I'm so sad to see it go. I've grown to like Wenger more than Victorinox for a while now. I love Wenger dearly and will carry Wenger knives for years to come. Long live Wenger!

I am very saddened by this news! I know Eddie, Donald, Gabriel and the others here feel the same way!
I love Wenger, and very proud owner of their products! To you Peter..

resounding brother! I have always collected Wengers even from way back when they had local distributorship at out local TrueValue Hardware stores back in the 90s. I got my wengers mainly from them and I have always haunted youtube looking for Pete's interviews as he gives the interviewer a lot of insight into the product and the brand. .... I was actually hoping for more exciting products from them, I was like super crazy about the Steroid Loaded hunk of metal that made up the new Ranger line...from the Mike Horn Ranger (my personal fave) to the Alinghi to the Patagonian Expedition Race knives ...ahhhh the list goes on....it was great while it lasted and I will always be in debt to Wenger for making my Camping Adventures all the more enjoyable....and BTW wengers are always a hit with the girls

[CanadianLMfan]

Is Wenger going out of business?

[Syph007]

Is Wenger going out of business?

Victorinox is shutting down the Wenger brand name.  We don't yet know what Wenger models will hang around still, wearing Victorinox branding.

[CanadianLMfan]

Why is Vic so cruel?

[ducttapetech]

Vic saved wenger from being farmed out. Vic bought wenger to keep it in the country and keep the factory going and the workers working.

[CanadianLMfan]

Was Wenger going out of business? Why?

[Aloha]

Wishing Mr Peter Hug all the best and thank you for some wonderful products.  I love my Evo S10 and my newly acquired SI as well as my others.  Looking forward to seeing where Mr Hug hangs his hat as I'm sure wherever it is he'll make a huge impact.    

[nate j]

Wenger was nearly bankrupt when it was acquired by Victorinox in 2005.  Wenger's financial situation at the time was largely blamed on the ban on carrying small pocketknives (including SAKs) on commercial aircraft that was enacted following the 9/11/2001 attacks.  While these rules definitely hurt Wenger, Victorinox, and other companies in the business, there were no doubt other factors as well.

At the time, Victorinox announced plans to keep Wenger all-Swiss (this was likely the most important reason they bought it, i.e. to keep Wenger from becoming like Schrade, Camillus, etc. - once proud names in the cutlery industry whose trademarks were bought for a song when the original firms folded, and are now being stamped on Chinese-made trash...don't get me started  ) and to run it as an independently operated subsidiary.  Eight years later, that business model is apparently not performing as desired (or someone at Victorinox simply decided it was silly to continue competing with themselves), and they announced earlier this year that the production of knives under the Wenger brand would be discontinued.  However, as stated earlier in this thread, it seems that some Wenger models will continue to be manufactured, but with Victorinox branding.

[sticktodrum]

A real shame indeed. It's unfortunate when things like this happen, but from the little I know of Peter, it seems fair to say he'll end up somewhere good with a position that makes him happy.

All the best to him. I have always been a Vic fan, but my feelings for Wenger have absolutely warmed up over the last year.

Cheers, and godspeed.