Strategy in TECH...
Ft. Lauderdale, FL-based manufacturers representative firm LK & Associates has acquired another Florida rep firm, L.P. Hench in a deal announced Tuesday. This acquisition represents a line and talent expansion for LK & Associates as it continues to enjoy strong growth.
With 2020 rapidly disappearing into our rearview mirror, it’s always good to take a moment during the holidays and reflect on the year that just transpired. A year is a long time and a lot happens.
Also, as a content creator it is good to look back at those stories that seemed to resonate with most readers as I seek to constantly refine my editorial targets to better match the interests of readers. One way I do that is to put together an end of year list of the Top Ten Most Read Stories. Let’s look at those together – were these your favorites as well?
The judge hearing the matter of the bankruptcy filing of Guitar Center, Inc., parent company of custom integration company Audio Visual Design Group (AVDG), has accepted the organization’s plan to reorganize operations in order to emerge from bankruptcy. With this move by the court, the stage has been set for Guitar Center to exit from bankruptcy proceedings soon, perhaps any day now.
In yet another sign of patent success for Sonos, major industry player Legrand has agreed to a multi-year licensing deal to cover the technology used in their Nuvo line of wireless multi-room products. This is yet another sign that tends to add to the growing power of the Sonos patent portfolio covering these technologies.
Sony Corporation has two large factories in Malaysia – one manufacturing audio products, and the other manufacturing predominantly video products. A new report out of Japan indicates that the company plans to close its audio factory in Malaysia by no later than the beginning of 2022 – or in other words, during the upcoming year of 2021. This move is likely a result of a previously announced strategic refocusing on businesses other than a/v electronics at the major consumer electronics manufacturer.
EVA Automation, the now former owner of Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) dodged a bullet when late last month U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, the Honorable Hannah L. Blumenstiel, entered an order dismissing the involuntary petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy brought against them by Top Victory Investments Limited (whose attorneys use the acronym TPV). With that decision, a forced bankruptcy was avoided. However, as court records clearly demonstrate, the company did feel some pain as a result of this filing, and according to their attorneys were in the process of conducting an orderly shut down of the business.
Not only that, but we learn much more about EVA Automation‘s relationship with Bowers & Wilkins – and their degraded circumstances based largely on the failure of their Formation wireless speaker line marketed under the B&W brand.
In an unusual Saturday night filing, Guitar Center, Inc., parent company to AV integration company Audio Visual Design Group (AVDG), filed for bankruptcy protection. The move was widely expected by many industry watchers for years, and caps a difficult business history for Guitar Center, starting back in 2007 when they were first acquired by Bain Capital.
Sonos, Inc. [NASDAQ: SONO] released their fourth quarter and full year financial results for fiscal 2020. Their performance pleasantly surprised Wall Street and their stock value exploded well over 20% in Thursday trading as the company exceeded analysts’ estimates for both revenue growth and profits. But is everything as it appears here?
Onkyo Corporation had a really tough fiscal 2020 – the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2020. How tough was it? So tough that the company was forced to announce that a massive drop in revenues and record losses had pushed the company into insolvency – calling into question its ability to continue as a going concern. It doesn’t get much tougher than that. And this announcement triggered a Tokyo Stock Exchange action – invoking a rule that starts a clock on a limited grace period for the company to cure the situation – their insolvency – before a forced delisting from the JASDAQ stock exchange is implemented.
When we last visited with Velodyne, it was all the way back in 2014 when the company quietly laid off audio staff, and suddenly – without warning – fired all of their manufacturer sales representatives and their dealers. Shortly after this, the company hired a high-powered retail executive (who would go on to eventually go to prison) to launch a direct-to-consumer business. Our coverage drew the attention of then Velodyne President Marta Thoma Hall, who is wife of company founder and chief engineer David Hall, leading to an interview with her on the many dramatic changes taking place at the company. Whew! That was a lot of action in a very short period of time.
Ultimately, it appears that David Hall got bored with audio and moved on with his new prized invention – an improved Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor technology that is important to the autonomous vehicle market. According to a report by Audioholics, Ford and China’s Baidu partnered to invest $150 million in Velodyne’s Lidar technology and Elvis…er…Hall…has definitely left the audio building. Velodyne split into two companies (Velodyne Lidar is now a $100 million public company [NASDAQ:VLDR]) and for a time last year, it looked like curtains for the audio division.
