Strategy in TECH...
Two major manufacturer sales representative firms serving the Southeast region have merged to create a massive agency that they say is the largest representative firm servicing the Southeastern United States. The two firms are High-Tech Network based in Marietta, GA and Coresential, Inc. Residential Division based in Charlotte, NC.
Politan Capital Management LP filed an amended Schedule 13D to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) two important actions the activist investment company had recently taken. One of those actions was that it had increased its holdings of Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ: MASI) to 4,648,869 shares or nearly 9% of the company’s outstanding shares – making it a significant owner. And the second action? Politan has filed a “Verified Complaint” against the company and its Board of Directors – and boy, that complaint is a doozy!
This week, AVNation features Ted Green – me – on a special episode discussing the CEDIA Director Elections taking place right now. As you may know, there was some controversy surrounding this election as CEDIA’s board decided to change the normal election process where association members pick from a selection of nominees to vote on those they want on the Board of Directors. Instead, this year members vote with a simple yes/no on a predetermined slate of candidates selected by the Board’s Governance Committee.
The latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly show that housing starts – a measure of residential construction activity – continue its downward spiral, dropping in September to a rate of 1.4 million units, below economists’ forecast. Single-family housing starts hit their lowest level in more than two years as a slowing economy and sky-high mortgage rates depress demand for housing.
In the days leading up to the recent CEDIA Expo in Dallas, Nationwide Marketing Group, one of the largest buying groups in the U.S., announced that former ProSource VP Andy Orozco would be joining Nationwide as its Senior Vice President of Custom Integration. That news grabbed my attention as it came less than a year after Nationwide’s acquisition of one of the top custom integration buying groups, Azione Unlimited, back in October 2021.
It took a couple of weeks, but Emerald Expositions finally released the attendance figures for CEDIA Expo 2022. According to the exposition company, the attendance of nearly 12,000 “exceeded expectations” – their expectations apparently. But there is no question that it certainly blew away the attendance of just 1,400 folks who visited CEDIA Expo 2021.
VOXX International Corporation (NASDAQ: VOXX) announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2023 this week and they were quite sobering. Not only did revenues decline by double digits, but the company had a dramatic increase in net loss to nearly $11 million.
What went wrong?
It’s a remarkable event when someone can claim a legitimate first. In all my years in this crazy Tech business, those firsts are getting fewer and further between. But Emerald Expositions, owner of the CEDIA Expo trade show can claim a legitimate first that I have never seen before from any show. They gave the cold shoulder to any media organization not named CE Pro.
Usually, shows want good media relations across the board with happy media writing positive stories and building an upbeat buzz about their event. Not Emerald…they are quite satisfied to help just one media outlet to run positive stories about their event…their very own CE Pro.
On Tuesday, CEDIA members received an email from David Weinstein, the well-known VP of Lutron who also serves as the Chairman of CEDIA’s Board of Directors, informing them that the election process to fill vacant seats on the Board of Directors was now open. There are three seats to be filled and Weinstein’s email helpfully/confusingly names just three candidates the Board’s Governance Committee has selected to fill the three open seats. It was the first indicator that something was different with this election as compared to the usual process.
I read this announcement carefully, as only hours before it was distributed I had received a cryptic message from a source exhorting me to find and read “the current Cedia [sic] bylaws.” Something was definitely brewing…
This post will present some of the top tech stories from CEDIA Expo 2022. You know, covering a trade show like Expo has always been a particular challenge for me. As someone who is always looking for a good story, going to a trade show with hundreds of exhibits is a bit like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hose. Nonetheless, I was able to discover several stories I found particularly interesting and I hope you’ll like them too.
