Brand relationships

Something that has always puzzled me is the relationships between the sail & board brands, there are three that really stand out to me:

JP / Neil Pryde
Fanatic / North
Starboard / Severne

What you often see is sailors that are sponsored by both brands:

e.g.
Kauli Seadi: JP / Pryde
Ricardo Campello: JP / Pryde
Victor Fernandez: fanatic / North
Boujmaa Guillol: Starboard / Severne
Bjoern Dunkerbeck: Starboard / Severne

Which would seem to me that the brands are really closely tied together, possibly co-owned?

But then you get someone like Philip Koster who is sponsored by Starboard/Neil Pryde

So how does the relationship between the big brands work? Are they all one company with different brands created for marketing or is it all just good natured gentlemans agreements between the brands.

That's an easy one

Pryde own JP
Fanatic and North are owned by the same group - boards and more
Gaastra and Tabou are owned by the same group
Not sure about the starboard and severne deal - it is a new partnership

According to Ben there is no "deal" between Starboard and Severne. Just coincidence that a number of the team are on both brands, but then there are a few that are not as well. And Ben himself sails Nude boards.

A2 moving to RRD would be the bigger loss I'd think. I'd expect to see a lot more RRD's being raced in Europe this year. I also seem to recall something about Gonzalo's move last year from MS to North and combos and brands not wanting all their people on the same stuff so they had a broader R&D base. I could be imagining that, though it would make sense. And yeah, there's at least the appearance of a decent relationship between Starboard and Severne - not that there's anything wrong with that, love my S&S combo.