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Fort Worth-based CheaperThanDirt.com has been acquired by 2A Group LLC, both privately-owned companies.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
CheaperThanDirt.com’s ammunition and shooting accessory inventory will continue to be offered under that brand on its website, according to a press release. 2A Group did not purchase the firearms inventory or the firearms division of the business, so that product category will not be offered on the website.
"We are excited to meet and serve our fellow shooters who have trusted CheaperThanDirt.com for over 25 years. Our team has many years of experience providing customers with the products and customer service they deserve, and we are going to continue that tradition with CheaperThanDirt.com," said Jake Felde, CEO of 2A Group, in a statement. "The website will continue to offer a broad array of ammunition and shooting products.”
2A Group is a private investment company comprised of a portfolio of brands that serve the shooting sports and law enforcement communities.
CheaperThanDirt was born out of an entrepreneur selling fire arms and ammunition at gun shows. During one show, a consumer said the sales prices were “cheaper than dirt.”
A mail-order catalog business was formed in 1993 called “Cheaper Than Dirt.” The company was among the first in the industry to create an online shopping website in the late 1990s.
The company hasn’t always been cheaper than dirt, however. In 2020, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ordered the company to pay more than $402,000 in refunds to consumers in response to allegations of price gouging.
The AG's office, which identified over 4,000 sales that involved price gouging, had identified ammunition as a necessity during the pandemic shutdowns and made the case that price hikes were against the Texas Business and Commerce Code. The code forbids businesses from "taking advantage of a disaster" by selling "fuel, food, medicine, lodging, building materials, construction tools, or another necessity at an exorbitant or excessive price.”
The brand will be carried into the future by Felde and a team that also manages ecommerce brand LuckyGunner.com.