For the composer, see George Enescu

George Enescu

George Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Enescu was born in the village of Liveni , Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical...

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Enesco (Enesco, LLC) is an American company specializing in the sales and distribution of giftware. The company was known as an industry leader during the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, as it carried the Precious Moments porcelain figurine line of products.

History

In 1958, Enesco was the import division for the N. Shure Company. When N. Shure was sold to Butler Brothers

Butler Brothers

Butler Brothers was a retailer and wholesale supplier based in Chicago. It was founded in 1877 as a mail-order company by George H. Butler and Edward Burgess Butler.-History:...

, the import division was spun off. Founding President Gene Freedman

Eugene Freedman

Eugene Freedman was an entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is widely known as the founder of the Enesco Corporation, the worldwide distributor for Precious Moments porcelain figurines between 1997 and 2005.-Early life and education:Born in Philadelphia, Freedman grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...

 derived the acronym from the N. Shure cargo, "N S Co", and phonetically named his company "EnEsCo". Thereafter, the company was sold three times, and in 1983 became a part of Stanhome, Inc. After separating from Stanhome in 1998, Stanhome immediately collapsed—leaving Enesco with all of Stanhome's assets.

Enesco is known in its industry for its 25 years of success with the Precious Moments porcelain figurine line of products. Freedman worked with original artist, Sam Butcher

Sam Butcher

Samuel J. Butcher is an American artist. He is mainly known as the artist behind the Precious Moments brand of characters based on American-Christian themes. He draws in oil, water-color, acrylic, and mixed-mediums.-Childhood:...

, to bring his designs to market. Enesco sales soared throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s until its peak in 1997. But by 2004, Enesco, Corp. posted an operating loss of $15.7 million US dollars. The sales of Precious Moments items plunged from a high of $206 million in 1996 to $55.7 million in 2004, a drop of $27.5 million from 2003."Precious Moments revenues represented 22% of consolidated net revenues in 2004 compared to 33% in 2003," according to Enesco's 2004-2005 annual report. In 2005 Enesco ended its business partnership and license arrangement with Precious Moments, Inc.

Gene Freedman left Enesco in March 2005, but has been named "Precious Moments Ambassador" by Precious Moments, Inc. There was an extravagant retirement dinner scheduled for him, but it quickly became an employment celebration after PMI's announcement.

In 2006, only a year after the departure of Precious Moments, Enesco's fourth president, Cynthia Passmore-McLaughlin (formerly of Revlon

Revlon

Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...

) resigned. With this, Jim Shore, the second best selling products after Precious Moments, dissolved its contract with Enesco. Enesco's stocks fell below US $1.00 and was unlisted from the NYSE

New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...

. After a few months of over the counter trading

Over-the-counter (finance)

Within the derivatives markets, many products are traded through exchanges. An exchange has the benefit of facilitating liquidity and also mitigates all credit risk concerning the default of a member of the exchange. Products traded on the exchange must be well standardised to transparent trading....

, Enesco withdrew its public offering altogether. On January 12, 2007, Enesco filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 protection.

In February 2007, Enesco Group, Inc. was purchased by Tinicum Capital Partners Thus, becoming Enesco, LLC.

Historical Enesco President/CEOs

1. Eugene Freedman (deceased)
2. Jeff Hutsell (resigned)
3. Dan Dalmolle (deceased)
4. Cynthia Passmore-McLaughlin (resigned)
5. Basil Elliot (retired)

The status within the parenthesis is the reason for leaving, not their current status.