Nike to acquire Converse

NEW YORK, July 10 (UPI) -- Nike, maker of the world's highest-tech sneakers, plans to acquire Converse Inc., maker of some of the world's lowest-tech ones.

The $10.7 billion a year shoe giant is offering about $305 million to buy the 95-year-old Converse and will assume some of its debt, the Wall Street Journal said.

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Converse posted $205.3 million in sales in 2002, coming mostly from the enduring popularity of the simple, $35 rubber-toed canvas Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers. But, the company was forced into bankruptcy court protection in 1991 and again in 2001.

Introduced in 1917 as the All-Stars, the shoes were renamed in 1923 after Taylor, a semi-professional basketball player from Akron, Ohio, who became a particularly avid member of the Converse sales force, driving to playgrounds throughout the Midwest selling the high-top shoes to players from the back of his car.