Weber Is NOT What It Used to Be — What Happened (The Full Story)

📕 Which Weber lines are still worth buying + the used Weber gold-standard years. → https://tinyurl.com/grillverdict The full Weber breakdown is in the Brand Report Card inside the Black Book. The grill aisle at Home Depot isn't thirty different quality levels competing with each other. It's a wall of Weber boxes, Traeger pellet grills, and Pit Boss knockoffs all fighting for the same suburban dad who Googled "best grill 2026" and got a wall of affiliate content that all recommends different things. Weber, Traeger, Char-Broil, Napoleon — different logos, same anxiety. The brand name on the box is designed to make you feel like you're buying your dad's grill. No floor associate will mention that Weber has been bought, sold, IPO'd, collapsed, taken private, and merged three times in fifteen years. Meanwhile, the old Webers your dad swore by — the Genesis Silver, the original Kettles — are being restored on forums by people who know the new ones don't compare. What's covered: — George Stephen Sr. inventing the Weber Kettle from a marine buoy in 1952 at the Chicago factory — Nearly 60 years of family ownership across two generations, 12 children, 11 working at the company — BDT Capital Partners acquiring majority stake in December 2010 — Byron Trott's "patient capital" pitch — The pandemic grill boom and Weber's IPO in August 2021 at $14/share — offering scaled back from $750M to $250M — The dual-class share structure giving BDT 83% voting power while public investors had no say — Stock collapse from $19.55 to $5.03 in fourteen months — revenue dropping 20% to $1.59B, EBITDA going negative — BDT's take-private deal at $8.05/share — public investors losing an estimated $106M while BDT's cost basis was ~$0.05/share — The "boomerang IPO" — how BDT extracted $250M from public markets then bought the float back at a 42% discount — Weber merging with Blackstone Products in May 2025 under new CEO Roger Dahle — Forum-documented quality decline: a professional refurbisher's teardown of 500+ Webers showing warped fireboxes and rotted burners within two years on Genesis II and Spirit II — Thinner gauge steel, dropped crossover ignition, outsourced customer service — The Weber SmokeFire disaster — grease fires, 100°F temperature swings, discontinued in North America — Tightened warranty enforcement vs. the old no-questions-asked policy — What to actually buy right now if you want a Weber that lasts Sources: Weber SEC filings (10-K FY2021, 10-K FY2022), BDT take-private deal docs, Blackstone merger announcement, Virtual Weber Bullet Board (tvwbb.com), r/webergrills, Mercer Capital, Business Wire, Crain's Chicago Business, CNBC, refurbisher teardown data. No sponsorships. No affiliate links. Did this change how you're looking at that Weber in the aisle? Drop it in the comments. Subscribe for more honest outdoor power equipment and grill breakdowns. —————————————————— 📕 THE GRILL BUYER'S BLACK BOOK ($19.99) 7 guides · No sponsors · No affiliate links. → Gas Grill Buyer's Guide — every model ranked by BTUs, burners, and steel gauge → Pellet Grill & Smoker Breakdown — which controllers and hoppers actually hold temp → Charcoal & Kamado Guide — the crack test and what separates $150 from $2,000 → Griddle & Flat Top Guide — steel thickness and the brands that last → Grill Maintenance & Longevity Manual — the routine that doubles grill life → Brand Report Card — every major brand rated. Who's on the silent kill list. → The Decision Guide — a 4-question flowchart from "no idea" to 2-3 specific models One bad grill costs thousands. This costs $19.99. → https://tinyurl.com/grillverdict —————————————————— #Weber #WeberGrill #WeberGrills #GrillReview #BestGrill2026 #WeberGenesis #WeberKettle #WeberSpirit #Grilling #BBQ #OutdoorCooking #PrivateEquity #HonestReview #GrillBuyingGuide #WeberVsTraeger #BigBoxGrills #BackyardBBQ #WeberBlackstone #GrillSeason