The UK Times reports that the family of the late Victor Kiam has sold the Remington electric shaver business to Rayovac - Kiam family cuts ties with Remington. That's fairly straightforward, but how about the end of the article?
Victor Kiam took over Remington in 1979, in one of the earliest leveraged buy-outs, after the company had lost $30m in five years. Thanks to cost cuts, including a management cull, he bought Remington back to profit in a year.Say what? Must have been quite a disguise.
He become a household name in the 1980s through the television adverts featuring lines including "I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company" and "shaves as close as a blade, or your money back".
The ads did not, however, represent his first TV appearance. Mr Kiam, credited with inventing the Cross Your Heart bra while at Playtex, which he joined in 1959, is believed to have modelled the product in a TV ad, his identity disguised.
