What do you think of New Balance?

If you like their sneakers, you'll love their company and values. A private company owned by Jim Davis and his wife, Anne, who heads human resources and the company foundation. The company has no debt.

In the early 1970s, Davis started searching for a business to buy. The first company he looked at was New Balance, which then had six employees and turned out 30 pairs of shoes a day. A year later, after hearing runners rave about New Balance and unable to find another deal, Davis bought the company. The price: $10,000 down and $90,000 out of later cash flow.

Davis refuses to hire celebrity athletes to endorse his shoes. About one-quarter of his manufacturing remains in the United States, long after his competitors have abandoned making anything here.

The Davises are remarkably unpretentious mom and pop billionaires. Davis, 61, the son of a Greek immigrant, likes khakis and dislikes ties. They give away lots of money, though you never read about it. ''He is the quintessential anonymous donor," says US Representative William Delahunt, a fraternity brother at Middlebury College.

Davis has no intention of going public. What would be lost if he did? ''Domestic manufacturing," he says. ''If we were a public company, I am sure the shareholders would say, 'Close your factories and make the product abroad because you will make more dough for me and my quarterly dividend.' Right off the bat I am sure that would happen."

New Balance is all about thinking long term. Most of Davis's top executives have been with him 20 years; two of the six employees working at New Balance when Davis bought it are still there. The company, with 2,600 employees, has no unions. Davis avoids acquisitions because they disrupt the culture.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/10/06/mom_and_pop_billionaires/