The Ledger
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Sealy, Simmons, Serta, and Spring Air sold undifferentiated commodity mattresses
“It was dominated by the four S's. Seeley, Simmons, Serta, and Spring Air at the time, and they all were Innersprings, and they didn't even try to differentiate as a product. It was a commodity, and they sold on price and terms.”
Trussell secured North American distribution rights for Tempur-Pedic in 1991
“Late 91, and we met him in Milwaukee, and he and I negotiated that he would give me exclusive North American distribution rights for his products.”
Tempur-Pedic missed its 10,000-mattress first-year sales goal by 9,930
“We were supposed to sell 10,000 mattresses the first year, and we sold 70. So we missed the goal by 9930.”
Trussell: Tempur-Pedic held 5%–6% of the US mattress market at IPO
“We were probably then about you know, five, six percent of the U.S. Mattress market, but we were A much larger percentage of the 2000 dollar and up price point.”
Tempur-Pedic's memory foam was originally unpatented public domain NASA technology
“Yeah, it was originally invented by NASA. For the space program to cushion the astronauts from G-forces. And since it was a public thing... U.S. Government. There wasn't a patent on it. It was freely alienable. And my Swedish friends bought a company in Denmar…”
Trussell: Tempur-Pedic's $350M buyout funded Swedish exit, not company operations
“So anyway, that's what the three hundred fifty million was. The purpose of the transaction was to take the Swedes out. Not a ton of it went into the company, actually.”
Tempur-Pedic sold 70 mattresses in year one against a 10,000 quota
“We were supposed to sell 10,000 mattresses the first year, and we sold 70. So we missed the goal by 9930.”
Tempur-Pedic held 5% of US mattress market at IPO
“We were probably then about you know, five, six percent of the U.S. Mattress market, but we were A much larger percentage of the 2000 dollar and up price point.”
Tempur-Pedic's $350M PE deal primarily bought out the original Swedish owners
“So anyway, that's what the three hundred fifty million was. The purpose of the transaction was to take the Swedes out. Not a ton of it went into the company, actually.”