Yesterday morning I noticed that people were doing searches on “Marcus Lemonis skullduggery” but had no idea that the latter was actually a business appearing in The Profit. So I jumped to the conclusion that a few paranoid types were associating skullduggery with Marcus’s deal-making style. Oftentimes people who don’t understand the rules of business will suspect the worst when they don’t get what they want. Instead of accepting that they are bad negotiators they will attempt to paint the other party as being somehow unscrupulous. It’s rarely the case and certainly doesn’t apply to Marcus.

Then by late afternoon I discovered that these searches were for the latest episode of The Profit.

Skullduggery

After the farce of Worldwide Trailer Sales, I was ready for an episode about a serious business with real potential that Marcus could fix up and make money with. I really do try to start each week with an open mind, folks. Alas, it was not to be. We got Skullduggery instead. Over the years I have met a few toy company owners and/or CEOs and all of them were playful creative types. They have to be in order to understand what their customers will like.

In contrast, the Skullduggery office and owners had more of a Speedy Muffler outlet look and vibe than that of a creative business. Indeed many of the toys were really quite lame as Marcus pointed out early on. And what’s worse, the president really couldn’t relate to kids as demonstrated by his ugly reaction to the young girl at the focus group.

To recap, Skullduggery has been a small family-owned business since 1987 which designs and sells games and toys. It’s currently run by the founder’s two middle-aged sons. Despite being in business almost 30 years it only has $1.6 million in sales and a $50k loss in the most recent fiscal year. On top of all that it is $1.3 million in debt. At the rate it’s going this debt will never be paid off.

Something is clearly very wrong here and it will be interesting to discover why.

Marcus’s Growth Strategy

The reason Marcus wanted to look at the company is because he has the connections with NASCAR. He believed that he could cut a deal in which Skullduggery’s toy cars could be rebranded as a NASCAR line.

Now let’s do a quick overview using Marcus’s 3Ps approach.

Products 

The company has too many products, or SKUs if you prefer, many of which collect dust in the warehouse instead of selling. Who’s to blame for this? Clearly it’s the brothers. Whether you are considering buying a company, investing in it, or making a loan to it one of the very first things you look at is the inventory. Inventory is the low hanging fruit in fixing businesses. If a company has inventory that’s not moving you make it move with a fire sale. Just get rid of the damned stuff anyway that you can. Marcus had a local Dollar Store take the dead stuff away for cents on the dollar. It was the right move.

One more thing. Skullduggery? It’s hard to come up with a worse name for a toy company or any business for that matter.

Process

There were problems-a-plenty here too. The company’s designer is over 3000 miles away on the east coast. The production process is highly inefficient because the production dies and molds are set up to make only four parts at a time instead of eight or sixteen. This pushes unit costs up and reduces margins. On top of all that, the boys admit that they couldn’t give a fig about what kids want and simply create products that two middle-aged men think are fun. Hoo-boy!

I’ll stop there.

People

The company is now run by Steve the president and his brother Peter the v-p. Their dad remains a shareholder but prefers to stay in the background. Steve suffers from a very bad case of foot-in-mouth disease as we saw numerous times. The first time is early on when he mimics Marcus. It took me back to high school. Another time is when he responds sarcastically to a 10 year old girl who dared to point out that one of the toys is confusing. Get a grip, man. However, the very worst case was when Steve tried to be clever at the meeting with NASCAR’s V-P of Marketing by trying to flip the agenda around to “what can NASCAR do for our tiny failed business?” It didn’t fly and just made him look bad.

One of the amusing things came at the end during the final blow out with Marcus. Steve and Peter are feeling Marcus’s wrath and finally tell him “Well, you’ll have to talk to our dad.” These guys are the president and vice president of the company. They are in their forties and on top of that outnumber Marcus 2 to 1. Yet they pass the buck off onto dad? Sadly, dad wasn’t open to being reasonable either. The apples don’t fall far from the tree.

No no no, the real question is what can multi-billion dollar NASCAR do for us not the other way around, amigo.

No no no, the real question is what can multi-billion dollar NASCAR do for us not the other way around, amigo.

The Big Lessons

Here are the four big lessons from this episode:

– If your inventory is not moving, liquidate it. Too many owners hold onto bad inventory (which is cash) because they can’t bring themselves to admit that they made a bad decision about what to carry. Bite the bullet and sell it for cash.

– Don’t create products without any market feedback. Do your research on what’s selling and use tools like focus groups, when appropriate,  to understand what your market does and doesn’t want.

– Finally, understand the risks of being a minority shareholder in a private company. In most cases, you will have few rights. If as Marcus explained, the majority shareholders want to spend lavishly on themselves with items such as $600K cars that eat away all the profits, that would otherwise be shared via dividends, there’s nothing to stop them. Nothing.

Marcus was being perfectly reasonable in asking for a veto on all financial decisions in return for accepting a 30% stake for his $1 million investment.

– Don’t be a smartass.

 

*** Could you be another Marcus? Find out. Here’s a career upgrade opportunity for you.

92 Responses to The Profit: Marcus Lemonis and Skullduggery

  • This is the first time Marcus used the f-bomb on the show. He lost $100,000 to these doofuses. How can he just walk away from that money?

    Will your course really show me how to be a Marcus Lemonis?

    • And a lot of time, private jet flying, and a 3D printer. (and who knows what else). I’m not a billionaire; my little company only grossed $1.2 a year; but I comfortably retired on my savings and the sale of the corporation. Sometimes Marcus just needs to walk away. The last two episodes show that quite well. If he’d walked into my little business, I’d have said, “With a little protection from failure, I’ll do whatever you recommend with enthusiasm.”

      Ken

      • Thank you! It amazes me that these people show ingratitude. He is saving their behinds and all they can do is complain. Unreal!

      • It is true, they have lost a great opportunity. with Marcus the sky was the limit. They lost the lot, do not give two years to sell the business or go bankrupt !!! A pity , could be different !!!

    • What most people missed is that he sold their inventory and got $60k. He took that and used it for the office plus maybe some money the show fronted to keep this ridiculous deal moving forward for entertainment value. I do see that he knew the Nascar licensing would work with the cars but I was surprised that he didn’t pitch the existing prototype. Honestly, I think that he was just testing their creativity to determine whether these two goons could spark up enough synapses to come up with more ideas. Otherwise, their a one toy wonder and that would not last. That’s essentially what he did with that exercise. Most people missed that point.

      • Thank you! I didn’t realize this. But it IS an important insight. Of course he needed these two goofballs to demonstrate their abilities.

        I just kept wondering if these two (3) were setting a new record for top jackasses on any Profit episode I’ve seen so far.

        • Hank Maarse from Maarse Flowers can keep The three Skullduggery jackasses company. Both of these businesses are in CA. M.

    • Those two brothers are too dumb to know how dumb they are. They looked like childish and uneducated. They talked about their 25 years of experience yet expected Marcus to come up with the idea? Partnering with Marcus and his contacts would have pretty much guaranteed them success but they would rather have 100% of a business that may fail vs 50% of a multi million dollars business.
      I hope the dad has another retirement plan. My opinions

      • i’m amazed at the stupidity of the two brothers ……….they had a potential partner who could enable them to triple / quad-triple their business and were unable to fathom that. Marcus got out at the right time because they had no creative talent at all!!

    • How can he lose $100,000? Is that a joke? Game shows will routinely give away much more money than that. $100,000 per show is a very small cost to produce a successful show. He will gladly throw away $100,000 per show if he gets a good show out of it with good ratings. A few commercials will more than pay for that amount. Besides, he can leverage some of these products and present them to a national market. Suckers like me would love to try some of the products that are profiled on the show. Just put a profit logo on the product and link it to the show and millions like myself will want to check it out. For example they are selling a Profit protein bar at GNC that was profiled on one of the episodes. I want to buy one of these bars.

    • If I was Marcus Lemonis, I would have left right after those two idiots stormed off into that small room and slammed the door in the beginning of the show. That was a clear signal to get out and not look back.

      Of course, I don’t have a TV show that undoubtedly got a lot of viewers from that episode.

    • The two fat broads from 240Sweet are even worse shysters.

      http://tycoonplaybook.com/2016/01/27/the-profit-marcus-and-240sweet/

  • Oh wow, these two bozos are total dummies. Lemonis could have saved their asses. Just look at their website. It’s like something out of 1995. Lets hope they go out of business from all that debt and losses.

    • Why would you hope anyone loses a business because of not accepting a deal with a party you have a boner for?

      • Maybe because they are a couple of assholes?

      • Because they are sucking up valuable resources that can be better allocated to someone who can use them.

      • Bad business people should go out of business especially these idiots. Why would you support 2 guys who are in debt and turn down a deal with a multi-billion dollar operation like NASCAR?

        They have no passion so say goodnight and let the workers find a better place to work

  • I was quite disappointed by their father. He should have backed Marcus on the veto. Of course Marcus is too smart to give them a million and then expect them to treat his money with respect. The dad should have known this is true and backed Marcus on it. Yet he didn’t. Looks like the apples didn’t fall far from the tree.

  • It was surprising to see just how bad an ongoing concern’s management can be. In 30 years, they’re negative 1.6 million dollars for their work. This business has a negative value, but they wanted Marcus to just give them money and stand back to watch them lose more. That ain’t gonna happen.
    Personally, Marcus should have walked away when they left the meeting and shut the door behind them. These people are not the kind of people with whom I’d want to be partners. His 30% equity for loaning them $1,000,000 was surprising. They’re in trouble and don’t even know it. (they sleep well at night . . . I’d be sweating bullets).
    I’m ready to see Marcus use his talents and money to actually bring a company to the best it can be. Apparently, most small businesses are mis-managed by egotistical owners that can’t see a pot of gold when it walks in the door. I get tired of hearing, “It my life’s work.” WHO CARES? It’s about making money!
    Ken

  • Anyone else worried that Marcus might be losing it? In this episode he first offers over two million $ for 50% which the bozo boys reject. Then he comes back at the very end after seeing what screwups they are to offer one million $ for 30%. After seeing what a couple of chumps Steve and Pete are why would he wish to be a minority member even with the veto power?

    It’s as if Marcus was desperate to do that deal no matter what.

    • Yeah, and they really had NOTHING to offer except a failed business plan. Marcus could have started up his own toy company and gotten NASCAR advertising without these guys.

      Surely there are better small companies out there that could really understand what he’s offering.

      Ken

      • He already stated he likes the toy business and obviously has some connections there, but he can run a business better than most out there. ..so, he can pick one business and be the guy putting all the time and energy into it or he can do what he does and get many businesses and make money off his investments. Its the way to go.

      • I was wondering the same thing.(I just saw the episode last night on Hulu) It seemed to me that maybe they just wanted the exposure the show would give them. I think it backfired. Now that i know the company, I personally will avoid their toys. Silly? Maybe, but they’e doing it to themselves in my opinion.

    • They do seem to have a patent for glow in the dark racing track, that probably had some value, Marcus saw some future value in this company

  • You are all too quick to criticize these two muppets. Just don’t forget that Steve was told by Walmart and two toy retailers that they would have nothing to do with the Nascar brand.

    • Or so he said. Go into Walmart. There’s plenty of NASCAR branded stuff there.

      Steve apparently has a grudge against NASCAR, proven by the way he acted in front of one of their corporate officers.

    • He also stated that he sold those crap cardboard toys when he didn’t. The guy is a pathological liar and his brother is a schmuck – all led by the father who is obviously the toxin of the semen pool that spawned these idiots!

      • Yes, it was obvious that Steve would have said ANYTHING and none of it was true. He just wanted all that debt paid off and some nice amenities and for Marcus to then ‘fu#k off to the corner’ as Marcus rightly said. If the ‘father’ had veto rights on the whole deal, he should have been in the initial, and all other, negotiations. Steve told Marcus that his father trusted him and he had his father’s vote so Marcus didn’t even need to meet him. I did think, myself, why Marcus would even attempt to help these losers…one of which never said a word after the deal was made…not a sound…did you notice that? I hate so much that they got ANYTHING out of that deal…it was obvious they were losers just looking for a handout, and I guess got one, to a certain degree. Ugh!

        • These guys are jackasses, BUT THEY SURE HELPED MAKE A GOOD SHOW. MANY STILL WANT TO SEE THEM FALL ON THEIR BUTTS. M.

    • Is that you Steve? Boy, you never learn, do you?

  • Whatever value these 2 buffons had in their company is currently being destroyed on the internet as people comment on the show. Who in the industry would want to have anything to do with them? Whatever mistakes this company may have made, leading to consecutive years of losses, are nothing compared to the mistake of letting the world see just how mismanaged the company truly is. Daddy ought to make these 2 start over, at the beginning, with paper routes.

  • I was never more happy than when Marcus walked out on these knot heads. And after seeing the fathers moronic position with Marcus, it is not hard to see why this company if failing. They are a group of total losers. Birds of a feather flock together. I will never buy a product from this company and anytime I can keep someone else from doing the same, I will. If their company depends on people like me….they might as well close the doors. They should change the name of the company to “Three Stooges Inc”. Goodbye Skullduggery, hope you had fun, because you are done now.

  • Just watched the episode. I’m wondering why Marcus ever agreed to a small minority interest in a company where the owners obviously did not want to do business with him. Let’s see, crappy products, losses every year, and owners who can’t seem to even figure out the basics like focus groups BEFORE investing in a product. Yikes, can you say stupid with a capital S? It seemed to me the bumble twins only wanted the redecorate their offices and get that 3-D printer. The good news…they’ll ultimately fail because during the entire episode I didn’t see one spark of intelligence in either of the bumble twins. Were I in their position (and I owned my own business which I sold for a nice profit) I would have gotten down on my knees and thanked Marcus – then followed every single word of advice he had.

  • Wow those toys belong at the Dollar Store… I did not see any value in the business worth investing in. Well I guess a fork lift and a box taper?

  • It’s hard to not want to pick on those nitwits but sooner rather than later someone in the debt structure will call in their note. I mean how long can dumb bro # 2 pay 2 mortgages on what you have to think (and by what was hinted about) as a salary of $60k. All while living in SoCal. Can’t last too long, right? So while most of us want to hate, soon dad will be even older and pass, and the two middle aged nitwits won’t be able to get jobs and will have to file bk. Lets thank God that we are not them. Poor idiots.

  • I’m surprised people don’t see why he did the 30%/finance control counteroffer. He knew early on that those light up cars would get a Nascar branding on them and fly off the shelves. My guess is his plan was that he knew he could get Nascar on board, sell millions of them, and basically have enough control of the company to keep the 3 stooges from screwing it up with their other awful ideas. He knew all they wanted was the ability to sit around and dream up mostly awful toys, so he basically gave them a room to play in all day while he ran every other aspect of the business. No matter how many other ideas they came up with good or bad, they would never go further than that room without his approval for production molds, etc. He saw a quick and easy sell with those cars and 30% of easy money isn’t something a good business person will turn down.

    The part I find odd, and something that makes me think the show fronts him something is how quick he is to put down money without checking first. The first thing I thought of when they told him ‘Dad will be ok with our decision’ was “what if Dad is actually the majority owner with legal rights to make all the decisions?” I would assume Marcus would immediately want some paperwork to back up their decision making power after he heard that, but I bet the show pushes him to go forward and since the show might be giving him something, the $100,000 grand he blew on their creative lab might have not actually be from him, but from whatever he earns per episode. He might have thought “Oh well, it’s just extra cash the show covers anyways so I’ll spend it and hope the Dad doesn’t come back and screw it later but if he does it wasn’t my money anyways and it’s what the producers want.”

    • $100,000 to a billionaire is the equivalent to a purchase of a piece of bubble gum for a person making 50K a year – it’s also a write-off at the end of the year.

    • Really, you think those light up cars would fly off the shelves?! Why, when there are already so many car/track toys already out there. I have small kids and none of the stuff that these two old men are trying to sell would interest any of my kids. I really don’t think that adding NASCAR to that toy would have made it any more attractive either. However, you don’t run a small failing business then sit in a conference room with a company that makes several billion dollars per year and act like your failing business is better. It is just funny that they don’t focus group anything, yes old man, your brand of Lincoln Log style toy is going to interest the kids of today….. I know, you should make some glow in the dark slap bracelets or a glow in the dark jacks set. This is a typical second generation family business, the dad is an enabler who can’t bring himself to tell his two coddled moron sons that they are going to end up bankrupting a business that in a consumer’s eyes has no value, definitely not $4mil. worth of value. The sad part is that neither of the brothers seem mentally capable of doing any other type of work besides ruining a business once this one finally does go under. The old man should be really proud of himself for raising these two gems! I hope Marcus repossessed the very expensive equipment that he bought with his credit card, the selling of the horribly cruddy toys to the dollar store should have covered all or most of the work he did to the building, then stick the moron brothers with the bill for the upgraded mold for the only toy they made that had a chance in hell of making them any money, slim as that chance might be.

      • Matt,

        I assume by your response that your not a NASCAR fan, which is fine. I also don’t know where you live. However, living in Indiana as I do, I feel confident that the cars Skullduggary makes would be a significant money maker for them. Here’s why, NASCAR fans are loyal to their drivers. They wear t-shirts, have coasters, huggies and anything else with their favorite driver’s name & number. These fans quite often have children or grandkids who are into NASCAR as well. There are plenty of kids who love NASCAR would would love to have a Dale Jr. Jeff Gordon or Jimmy Johnson car to play with. NASCAR cars that glow in the dark when they run, are you kidding me? I could see that selling VERY well. I could even see adults buying the cars simply as collectibles of their favorite driver.
        By my post you may think I’m a hug NASCAR fan and I’m really not. I watch a few races a year on TV. No more than 2-3. However, I know plenty of people who ARE NASCAR fans, don’t miss a race on TV and occasionally go to a race or two. In my opinion these clowns made a HUGE blunder not working with NASCAR.

    • If you noticed, Marcus purchased the equipment with his credit card. I am no business mogul, but i would assume that he is going to keep/return it.

      • He probably used his card because carrying $270,000, the cost of the printer, wouldn’t fit in his back pocket

    • Exactly.

    • I know this is Late, but I suspect the reason he may do “handshake” deals versus writing up contracts is to protect himself as well. Many of the People he deals with are unpredictable and can end up being unreliable, ungrateful or just plain stupid. By making agreements with a “handshake’ it is much easier for Marcus to back out of the offer, even though it may be harder to get some of the money he spends while the show is filming, at least he is not stuck with honoring the entire agreement, (e.g. He makes a deal for 2 million for 50%, spends a hundred K but finds out the partner was a douche bag, unreliable, or just someone he didn’t want to work with, the absence of a written contract makes it much easier for him to leave the deal. The deals he makes are usually covered under the statute of frauds, which REQUIRE them to be in writing in order to be enforceable.

  • My impression of these owners was cemented at the end when Marcus said there’d be no deal without financial control. Dad’s reaction…he smiled. That told me this was the plan all along. I don’t believe they ever intended to allow Marcus to be in charge. Had they never watched the show? That was hardly a surprise. They were the ones who “profited” to the tune of $100k plus plus. I think they got precisely what they were going after. The 3D printer? I’m sure Marcus’s deal on that contained a return option.

  • I watched this episode and was shocked by the ignorance of these two brothers. I immediately emailed the guys at Skullduggery. In short I brought up the Nascar deal, debt, toys, and asked just why in the hell you would let Marcus and his money walk out the door without a deal? What I got back was:

    Reality TV is great, huh? It can show total untruths to the world, and make them believe it. Don’t be too quick to believe what you see on realty tv!

    Best Regards,
    Peter Koehl

    Very possible we all got sold a story on that episode…thougjrs?

    • Actions speak louder than words or an email. We all saw what bozos those guys are in the NASCAR meeting. the kid’s focus group, and the final meeting with Marcus and their dad. Are you really surprised by the contents of their email? What else were they going to say? “Yeah, we really are a couple of morons.”

    • Are you serious, Mr Big? the entire family is just a collection of muppets.

    • Of course you can’t take everything from tv as real truth and live, but at the same time, if that was the companies real financials, then the show wouldn’t have paid that much to get them in the clear and definitely wouldn’t compensate for the bad publicity and the way they ended up being portrayed. ….Parents, NASCAR, fans of Marcus, and social media gets around. Curious to know how much they were paid.

      How cool would it be to just pick Marcus’s brain and experience everything the show goes through without the cameras. I’m working on being a “shark” or “profit” and can’t wait until it all comes together, but sure would be awesome to get at least a crash course from any of them.

      I like the way Marcus works though. Straight forward with some heart, but doesn’t let it get in the way of good business. Love the show.

    • I don’t think it was just a show, this business definitely got some bad pr out of the deal, and that $100,000 investment is not going to save this company

  • Remember, TV is TV first, lots of editing but obviously there was plenty of real content in this episode. Regarding the $100,000 creative lab, let’s remember the liquidation of back stock, that money (their own) went a long ways towards funding the lab.

  • This is one of the few times that I was rooting for a business to fail. These two clowns deserve
    to go out of business. Make that 3 clowns. I forgot about good old dad.

  • Well if there was any truth to the numbers ( is reality TV permitted to make stuff up or does it need to be real at least here ) all the debt has been loaded on the company since the kiddies took over about 80 g a year on average as the kids were “building” the business.

    I am disappointed that Marcus did not point that out to good old dad. I would have said your kids have run your business Into the ground and you’re happy with that?

  • I think the father only heard one side of the story. Of course, his fault for not asking more questions. I wonder what he thought after viewing the episode?

  • I normally do not post to these forums; however, in this case, I had to. Watching “Profit” last night was disturbing. These toy company owners are condescending to children (their target market), absolutely ignorant to the creative process needed to develop educational (or even entertaining) toys, and narrow-minded. Watching the way the brothers responded to the offer of assistance was irritating. If I did purchase from this company prior to the show, I would not be purchasing from them again. So many other companies exist that deserve to be in this incredibly competitive field. This company is not one of them. I happen to agree with many that say this company should go out of business. Unfortunately, they simply do not have what it takes. Personally, I would be extremely embarrassed if I ever did business with Skullduggary. That is truly the most horrific name for a toy company.

    • I want to agree about the name being distasteful BUT it really is an appropriate for them…MEANING. UNDERHANDED OR UNSCRUPULOUS, TRICKERY, SECRET DISHONEST BEHAVIOR.

      • Yep. Just watch the episode again last night. The company’s name is befitting those three idiots. Even if I overlook the comments about Nascar (and I’m not really a big fan), I’ll never patronize a company whose owners are mean to children! They deserve whatever happens to them!

  • I THOUGHT MARCUS PUT UP $ 1, 000,000 TO PAY OFF THEIR DEBT. HOW DOES HE GET THAT BACK WHEN THEY CANCELED THE DEAL? I ASSUME THE DEBTS WERE PAID, I CAN’T IMAGINE A DEBTOR GIVING BACK ANY MONEY ONCE THEY ARE PAID. 🙄

    • 😯 Yes, how does Lemonis get back that $1,000,000?????

      • As he has stated a few times during the serieas, Marcus always protects his investments to minimize his risk. The 3D printer ($270k) was paid for with his credit card, which he probably rented or leased to the business at a minimum interest rate as long as he was a potential shareholder. He runs the business for a week and then follows up for however long is necessary, and locks in strict financial controls to prevent others from taking the assets and disappearing while he does his due diligence checks. No sane investor is going to make a deposit into a company or put in any serious funding without first completing their due diligence, which takes time. He certainly doesn’t put his money directly into the seller’s control, no matter that a check appears to be written out to the company directly. That money is going to go into an escrow account and Marcus himself would make withdraws on that account depending on where they are in the contract closing. I appreciate that Marcus is willing to walk away, more often than not it seems. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there was a no-compete/no-poach clause as part of the shows contract to prevent Marcus from using the show as a research mechanism for an industry which would allow him to walk away and then either build a start-up or buy a competing company and poach talent. I know I certainly would have been tempted to do just that with the custom trailer company with their margins, especially after the crazy lady went off at the end of the show.

    • he said it at the end, he hadn’t paid off the debt yet, so he said he saved himself $900,000 by walking away.

  • Scullduggery is the worst business I have ever seen. The three morons that own the place should be cast to a island so they don’t breed any more morons. They were mega epic dumb asses.

  • Thankfully I had never heard of these guys and their horrible toys. No children in my life will ever fall victim to these scammers who are rude to children and their parents, disrespectful horrible men. I hope to see you working at Taco Bell soon. Idiots without skills. Good Riddance, working with kids when you think your ideas are better than a children’s focus group. Disgusting Angry Men who deserve to be at the bottom.

  • Skullduggery apparently learned something from Markus without paying for it; Skullduggery now gets Smithsonian licensing from its archaelogy type toys (thank goodness it’s not NASCAR). The cardboard discs sell, although it may be they’re targeted as a special education tool (three of the five Amazon reviews mention therapists, helping a child develop gross motor skills, this has really helped Mickey-type comments. Markus may have suggested targeting specific groups at some time.

    I think Skullduggery may have gone into this seeking some free business consulting.

    • Yes, because I’m sure Smithsonian “archaeology type toys” sell a lot better than NASCAR. I couldn’t personally care less about NASCAR, but if I was running a toy business and had the opportunity to get a licensing deal with them, I’d move on it. Business is business, learn to separate your personal interests from it.

  • Hands down the two/three biggest idiots to ever breath air. It was obvious both those brothers were nothing but middle aged spoiled brats. If those two ever tried to go on Shark Tank and try and get the sharks to invest in their losing money company they would have been laughed off the set. Skullduggery will be out of business soon enough unless their daddy bails them out which I’m sure he has been doing since day 1. I’m surprised Marcus didn’t taken that one idiot brother out back and kick his a’ss after he asked that little girl if she knew how to read just because she was asked how she liked the toy and she answered honestly and said it was confusing.

    Who in the world would name a toy company “Skullduggery”

    • . MEANING. UNDERHANDED OR UNSCRUPULOUS, TRICKERY, SECRET DISHONEST BEHAVIOR.

      THE NAME IS PERFECT FOR THIS GROUP…M.

  • These two brothers used Marcus. Once Marcus cleared up their million dollar plus debt, they were done with him. That’s why nothing Marcus said or did was good enough. I bet they go out of business really fast behind this.

    • Marcus didn’t lose $1.6 million. At most it sounds like he lost $100K-$200K, and he probably got some of that back in the show’s entertainment value.

      (“voice of reason” below has a better, longer analysis)

  • Was pretty hilarious seeing 2 grown men run to their daddy (who clearly still treats them like 10-year-olds) when they didn’t like what Marcus was doing.

    Can you imagine how awful that Steve guy must have been when he was in high school? Dude was such a BS artist – I loved how at the beginning he took credit for everything & his “many hats” but by the end was saying he didn’t have time to design toys. And that poor younger brother, such a stereotypical little bro, only following what his brother does and never speaking up for himself. Would be sad if they weren’t such jerks.

    • You said it Bro! These brothers were complete pussies! Running to Daddy because they didn’t know how to run a failing toy business! Enjoyed what you commented on!

  • I finally just watched an episode of “The Profit” where Marcus Lemonis tries to help a failing toy business. A business deal was made between Marcus Lemonis and two brothers who clearly did not have the permission to make the deal. Upon viewing the episode the brothers drew a line in the sand as one of the brothers voiced. During the episode Marcus tried working with the two brothers and even set up a meeting with the head of marketing with Nascar. You could clearly see that the one brother thought he was too good for Nascar. Even during the meeting, he came across like an ignorant baboon. I can see now why the business was in such a mess.
    One thing that saddened me was the fact that the father created the business and his own two sons were running it into the ground. When things got to a point that the one brother kept getting caught in lies or just didn’t communicate or just didn’t do his job Then that’s when he told Marcus he needed to speak with his father. I thought at that point the brother was a big pussy, I mean by watching the show you can clearly tell what type of farm animal these brothers are!
    At the last meeting where Marcus had to talk to the father. It was clear that the father had only heard one side of the deal. I thought it was such a puss move on the brothers part to let Marcus spend 1.6 million dollars to get them out of dept them lots more money just to get them to where they needed to be. The toys they were producing were lame and the one brother was rude during the time where kids came in to test out the toys. Marcus was right! This guy needs to think before speaking! Clearly this brother is not the business type. I honestly think the other brother could have done a much better job. I hope by airing this episode that the general public knows what they are dealing with when they deal with skulduggery!!

    Marcus, I hope you got back every penny of your 1.6 million dollars that you used to make the deal with this FAILING TOY COMPANY!!!

    Kevin 😯

  • Their names should be Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb. Who talks trash to an 8-year-old and then tells the Exec of NASCAR he isn’t shit, as if NASCAR couldn’t hold a candle to his POS card throwing game! Priceless! By the way, their name should be changed from Skull Duggery to Numb Skulls! Idiots!

  • Having watched the original program and the rerun, I read the 63 comments posted above.
    The following is a list of terms taken from them. Ready?

    doofuses, two goons, dumb, childish, uneducated, two bozos, total dummies, couple of assholes,
    morons, egotistical, bozo boys, screwups, chumps, two muppets, pathological liar, schmuck, losers, two buffoons, knot heads, moronic, total losers, stupid, bumble twins, nitwits, poor idiots, 3 stooges, coddled moron sons, moron brothers, clowns, bozos, muppets, two clowns, three clowns, kiddies, three morons, mega epic dumb asses, scammers, disrespectful horrible men, disgusting angry men, BS artist, jerks, ignorant baboon, big pussy, farm animals, rude, and idiots.

    I think success is within their grasp.

    • . MEANING. UNDERHANDED OR UNSCRUPULOUS, TRICKERY, SECRET DISHONEST BEHAVIOR.

      THE NAME IS PERFECT FOR THIS GROUP…M.

  • Two so called business owners that think they are great business people …….in reality there inability is so clear to everyone else. You would never be so disrespectful to some one who is only trying to help. There company is down the tube. The Father and sons will be eating some humble pie soon. You are too good for the likes of this company…….

  • …..when they brought their Dad into the ” partner ” meeting you could tell he was well ensconced into the 50s – 60s…….and that the huckleberry doesn’t fall too far from the tree (vine) ….
    Too bad we didn’t get to find out what a NASCAR license costs……our Host would have footed that too…..no doubt! ….and they would have seen if their toy would have sold to the Bigs. There was no risk on the owners parts…….stupid egos …….
    The troublemaker reminded me soooo much of that ” Slingblade ” in Ray Donovan……..no offense Billy Bob! ….

  • It amazes me how gullible “reality” TV viewers are. Some of you actually think that million dollar check was cashed on the spot? And that someone as savvy as a self-made millionaire/billionaire actually thought this was a viable business after the first five minutes of meeting these two special ed flunkies? Come on folks…the fact that these were actually *real* business owners was TV ratings gold! The producers sift through thousands of desperate applicants and do plenty of due diligence before the company is even chosen for the show, and it’s obvious that Marcus agreed to play along with this farcical episode ONLY to get a piece of the glow in the dark cars through a Nascar licensing deal, *OR* (AND MUCH MORE LIKELY), everyone on the show already knew this deal would implode before any money actually changed hands, but they simply couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to exploit these morons for ratings.

    Think about it – would Marcus actually bring tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum to present to an executive at Nascar? Of course not! The reason for that segment was to position Nascar’s new marketing strategy of wanting to co-brand toys in the science and technology sector (free advertising targeted to the segment of TV viewers who think they’re intelligent by watching The Profit). That was THE SINGLE REASON for this episode…the rest was for the amusement of the viewers, and I do believe they succeeded on that front!

    For those who actually paid attention, daddy did not build this company. At the beginning, one of the brothers mentioned that their dad was “looking for a company to buy”, most likely because he was wealthy and also aware enough of the fact that both of his sons were mentally deficient and socially inept enough to never find real jobs on their own, so by purchasing an existing company that required limited gray matter to keep running – or so he thought – his special ed sons would be able to say they had careers and hopefully learn to function as normal adults in society. Unfortunately, his plan backfired, because they still managed to screw up a small but functioning fossil/toy model business and drive it into the ground with their ridiculous ideas and zero business acumen. Plus, now anyone who wasn’t already aware of their limited mental capacities can clearly see that he raised two dysfunctional man-children who behave like pre-pubescent morons…who most certainly were beaten up every day of grammar through high school. It’s almost sad when you think about it, but again, they were absolutely made for being exploited on “reality” TV!

  • The only part that doesn’t make sense is that he invested any time and effort into a non finalized deal. They couldn’t have cashed the check so why buy anything for the company?

    • They still have an episode to produce, that’s why. Marcus is being paid to be on the show – he’s a TV personality. Just like Mark Cuban and the others on Shark Tank. People need to understand that REALITY TV is not actually reality…it’s the entertainment industry…and the goofier the characters the better (especially when they don’t have a clue how they’re going to be edited and exploited in the name of entertainment). They signed the contract, though, which spells it all out, so I guess they deserve it.

      For those who commented above that they think the Skullduggery ding-dongs outsmarted Marcus, I can only shake my head. Get * a * clue!

  • Hi there:
    First, its a TV show and, as one, its not really showing the true facts if its not faked or “dramatized”

    However, as a small businessman (+5 years, yes i crossed THAT line), i am really enjoying the show.

    To be a entrepreneur is not about self ego. In fact, we are forced to even do some things that could be considered a bit humiliating like, for example, admitting mistakes even when its customer’s error.

    Anyways, i lol when he purchased with the credit card. In my case, even when im free of debt, my bank hates me so much. Why?. who knows.

  • There have been very few people on The Profit bigger jackasses than the one brother; The other brother was a pu$$y

    These two idiots are too stupid to realize that almost everything Marcus touches turns to gold

    That family should be in the tire business, not the toy business

    • I can see all three of these jag-offs, the Koehls, wearing Burger King hats in the near future.
      Or look for them to be greeters at Wal-Mart. What garbage they are peddling!
      Who would want a cardboard outline of a dinosaur at $19.95?
      I’m visiting my local Toys R Us and demanding they remove that Skullduggery trash from the shelves.
      When nobuddy is looking, these three bozos have a circle jerk in the back room.

  • 😡

    I was screaming at the TV for most of the hour!

    The owners were mean, dumb, spoiled brats. But my screaming was at Marcus. I have no idea what he saw in this company. I would have walked out the door as soon as I saw how bad the leadership was. But he has patience for assholes if there’s value there. But there was NO VALUE! The company had lost money for 4 straight years, was $1.1M in debt, and had shitty products and even shittier owners.

    My wife and I will often try to guess how much he will offer for what share of the company, and we are usually pretty close (because his offer often matches the debt load, and he almost always wants a controlling share). Before the offer, Marcus said that the owners would be shocked by the high amount of equity he was asking for. So … I guessed that he would offer $200K for 75%. He offered $2.6M for 50%. I was stunned.

    I assume that the company has some innate value that didn’t come across in the show, because we know Marcus isn’t dumb. (For example, maybe they owned the land and 10,000 sf building in Anaheim — and it was worth much more than the $1.1M they had borrowed against it).

  • Funny, I have read through this and some of you are closer to the truth. I happen to know these brothers and the family. The father was a CPA with a degree from Michigan. The father did purchase this company, and it was a casting company making “skulls” of different types of things like dinosaurs to whatever type animal, and sold to schools. Hence, Skullduggery. But the fact that they’ve been in business this long should be one testament to their business. But the other, really is that this is in fact a TV show. I know that they previously had licensed with NASCAR years before Marcus showed up. They moved away from it for a reason. As they told me, Marcus was always trying to create some type of conflict. They didn’t get $100K of Marcus L’s money. In fact, someone hit it on the head, they went to cash the check and it bounced! It couldn’t be cashed unless they ever had a deal. I was with them before this aired and they told me what was going on and didn’t even know up until the show if they had a deal or not. The point being folks, they got duped. Go back and look at the tape, Steve didn’t chastise a 10 year old…that was dubbed in!
    When Marcus rips them coming out of an elevator, that wasn’t in NY…they re-filmed that in downtown Santa Ana. This show is REALITY TV….technically, it’s all made up BS. This guy used these guys and made them look like clowns for his own purposes. I invite anyone to let someone tape you walking around for 5 months. Then they try to make you create conflict and raise situations with you (remember their are producers around feeding ML info). I bet they could make anyone look like crap!!!

  • Lol these two guys are the dumbest I have ever seen! Probably they never got our of their dad’s house and see the real world. They don’t even know how to interact with people!!! They sell toys to children and don’t even know how to speak with children. dummmmbbbb

  • When I saw the dad appear it showed me quite clearly where the sons stupidity came from.

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