Under the direction of CEO and founder, John Morris, privately-held Bass Pro Shops has grown from one store in the early 1970s to nearly 100 megastores with roughly 20,000 employees.  In a major horizontal integration move, Bass Pro is now acquiring Cabela’s Inc. for about $4.5 billion in cash, nearly doubling the size of the company.  Bass Pro already owns Tracker Boats and Mako boats and owns White River Marine Group making Bass Pro the largest boat builder in the USA.  The boat builder business represents backward integration for the company so in essence Bass Pro is quite vertically integrated.

Source:  Imani Moise, “Meet the Billionaire Behind Pass Pro,” Wall Street Journal, October 4, 2016, B2.