Merge and keep public. It didn't take long for his reputation to be destroyed in Google terms, and it won't take long to build up if he actually starts selling quality product at sensible prices. Nobody here forced him to be a clueless chancer, he did it all by himself, and I've seen no evidence of a change in either his abilities as a business man or his competence as a bike builder. Other companies have recovered from worse reputational damage without any special favours from their critics.
Merge and keep public. It didn't take long for his reputation to be destroyed in Google terms, and it won't take long to build up if he actually starts selling quality product at sensible prices. Nobody here forced him to be a clueless chancer, he did it all by himself, and I've seen no evidence of a change in either his abilities as a business man or his competence as a bike builder. Other companies have recovered from worse reputational damage without any special favours from their critics.