24/7 Wall St.

Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) is paying $18.82 cash per share to acquire Golf Galaxy (GGXY). This was just lumped in with DKS earnings release scheduled for today. The deal is valued in the $225 million range, and its market cap as of the close was $172.5 million.Golf Galaxy currently operates 61 stores in 24 states, ecommerce websites and catalog operations, and generated $250 million in sales during the last 12 months ended August 26, 2006.GGXY is trading up 17% at $18.32 in after-hours, and that is after trading down 1% to $15.65 in regular trading. With DKS valued at $2.5 Billion, this is a small and easy deal for the company to digest. DKS traded up 0.3% in regular trading to close at $48.92, but it traded up 3.2% to $50.51 in after-hours trading.Will they keep the name as Golf Galaxy? They probably know that Dick’s Galaxy and Dick’s Golf probably aren’t the two best names.Jon C. OggNovember 13, 2006