B5 Systems

And Then They Were Known As Academi

The company formerly known as Blackwater has once again changed its name. Prior to selling the company to its current owners, Erik Prince changed the name to the innocuous “Xe.” The point was to adopt a low profile name that didn’t stand for anything in particular in order to help soften public opinion of the company. It didn’t work.

The history of names used by Blackwater is monumental – Blackwater aka Blackwater USA aka Blackwater Worldwide aka Xe (services) aka US Training Center. There are a couple of other entities that are affiliated with Blackwater as well, like Paravant and Greystone.

But, the new owners have been working hard behind the scenes to change the lineup in the firm and how it does business. Their bid at a name change comes only after a lot of internal hard work. This new name is intended to signal to the world that this isn’t the same old Blackwater.

In a statement to CNN, CEO Ted Wright said, “The message here is not that we’re changing the name. The message is that we’re changing the company, and the name just reflects those changes. We have new owners, a new board of directors, a new management team, new location, new attitude on governance, new openness, new strategy – it’s a whole new company.

Their latest name? Academi.

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6 Responses to “And Then They Were Known As Academi”

  1. mpower6428 says:

    hardly monumental if a change of ownership does not come with it. if a douchebag ownes it… douchebags will be working for it.

    no, i didnt see anything here that excluded that “king of douchebags” (eric prince ) from the decision cycle within the company formerly known as blackwater, formerly known as blackwater USA, formerly known as blackwater worldwide, formerly know as blackwater XE (lol oh lord)…. and now… Academi….

    if you work of this schmuck and get killed…? you deserve to be forgotten, completely.

    • erin says:

      Do you some research before you run your mouth, genius. Prince sold the entire corporation a few years ago. He has nothing to do with the company anymore.

    • erin says:

      Oh and by the way, if you are not a former SEAL and current billionaire, try to refrain from referring to people who are as “schmucks.” It just makes you sound like one.

  2. wyhunter says:

    Guess you didn’t read the article.

    “We have new owners, a new board of directors, a new management team, new location, new attitude on governance.”

    • mpower6428 says:

      we’ll see….

      in the mean time… dont expect any parades or warm welcome backs.

      take your money, dont breach the “shut up” clause in your contract, hope you havent already been forclosed on, haul those kosher MRE’S and dont bore anybody with your war stories when/if you get back.

  3. mike says:

    No idea how they operate in business, but I’ve met the new owners a few months ago and they were incredibly down-to-earth and cool guys. I’m not in a position of respect or power in the company at which I work and they treated me as an equal as I walked them around and explained the gear they were looking at and made reccomendations. Classy guys. As far as I knew they were average customers just looking around. Rare enough an attitude for reps/management, entirely hard to grasp as owners. Best of luck to them.