MARC MCKEE — The Nine Club Interview

Skateboarding has had many noteworthy brands throughout its history. But World Industries might be the most significant of all time. Not only did it define an era, it turned the industry upside down by throwing the rule book completely out of the window. For the sake of brevity, we’ll refer you to the documentary The Man Who Souled The World[2007] to put what World represents into perspective.

What’s most interesting is that Steve Rocco, who founded World Industries in 1987, has all but disappeared from skateboarding. World’s original artist, Marc McKee, gives some insight into why this may be in the latest interview from The Nine Club when he reveals how much World Industries was sold for to Globe in the early aughts.

“Do we know how much he sold World for?

To Globe, I think it was $43 million.

And this was in what year?

2002.”

To put this into perspective, HUF just sold a 90% stake in the brand to Tsi Holdings this past November for $63 million USD—which proves, once again, how ahead of the game Steve Rocco actually was. Watch the full interview with McKee above. The bit about the sale of World Industries starts at the 1:13:55 mark.