[cycleguy55]

Some cynical views in this thread - not without merit, but niche market companies acquired by larger ones can often thrive if the parent company doesn't meddle with the things that have made the small company successful. That's a a bit 'IF', BTW. OTOH, I worked for 22+ years for a subsidiary of IBM and I can tell you ownership by 'Big Blue' brought many things, good and bad. The worst part was IBM attempted to run the subsidiary as a department and was continually micro-managing and second-guessing a great team. A giant PITA they were - and still are, based upon recent conversations with people still there.

Continental is a big, mass-market company that's focused on volume - not niche markets. Hoosier, OTOH, is a small company focused on niche / specialty markets. The acquisition makes sense - Hoosier potentially gets access to research and development expertise they could never afford on their own, plus access to Continental's distribution and dealer network. Continental gets a profitable company to extend their reach. I don't know how much business Hoosier did outside North America, but this could well be expanded through the Continental ownership.

As noted in the media release: "Continental and Hoosier have collaborated on technical and motorsports projects in the past several years." I would expect this to not only continue but expand under common ownership.

It's entirely possible the Hoosier ownership was ready to 'cash out' and saw this as their best opportunity - especially given their history of collaboration with Continental. That's a challenge many owner-managed or privately-held firms face, and the Continental / Hoosier deal is similar to one many companies do when they find they have few options.