You knew they were big, but you didn’t know just how big streaming innovator (and leader) Netflix really was…until now. In a bid to prove to investors they have what it takes to stave off a whole new class of streaming competitors, Netflix released some detailed numbers on their global subscription base that has Wall Street really buzzing.
Financial
More Leadership Turmoil Hits Emerald Expositions
CEO to Exit by Year End; COO Steps into Interim Role While Search Begins
Emerald Expositions Events, Inc. (Emerald) (NYSE:EEX), parent company to the CEDIA Expo show and industry trade magazines CE Pro & Commercial Integrator, announced this week that CEO Sally Shankland will be leaving the company by the end of this year. Shankland was appointed CEO just this past June 2019, and has said she will step down “for personal health reasons.” Once again, the organization is plunged into a leadership vacuum which began just one year ago with the sudden resignation of then-CEO David Loechner.
More on the new Emerald CEO transition…
[Read more…] about More Leadership Turmoil Hits Emerald ExpositionsAudio Design Associates Warns of Imminent Company Shutdown
In a letter to the media early Tuesday evening, Richard Stoerger announced the likely impending closure of Audio Design Associates (ADA), a company that was a founding member of CEDIA and a significant driving force in the early days of the “CEDIA channel.” The letter itself never explicitly explains the reasons for the possible closure, only offering vague allusions to: difficulty to “defeat the noise generated on a public level”… and … that they “just ran out of time and money”… and … a failure to “reckon with” how “difficult and expensive” it is to tell one’s story.
This news tolls the end of an era…
[Read more…] about Audio Design Associates Warns of Imminent Company ShutdownSonos Announces Record Fiscal 2019 Results; Acquires Snips
Sonos announced this week that it has acquired French AI voice control software maker Snips in a deal valued at $37.5 million. The company also released their Fiscal 2019 results in a letter to investors denoting a record year for the company – its first as a publicly traded one.
See more on Sonos’ new announcements…
[Read more…] about Sonos Announces Record Fiscal 2019 Results; Acquires SnipsLast Week Onkyo, Now Sound United Reorganizes in Wake of Failed Acquisition Deal
For a few weeks now, I’ve been chasing a rumor that both sides of the failed Sound United acquisition of Onkyo’s branded A/V business were in the throes of a major reorganization. The rumors, it seems, were true – starting with Onkyo’s announced reorganization last week…and now word that Sound United is also implementing changes to its management structure.
See what changes Sound United is making…
[Read more…] about Last Week Onkyo, Now Sound United Reorganizes in Wake of Failed Acquisition DealOnkyo to Slash Overall Company Headcount by 30%, Cutting Management by 50%
Also: Consolidating Facilities & Moving Headquarters
It appears that the other shoe is dropping in the wake of the failed acquisition of Onkyo Corporation’s branded A/V division by Sound United last month, as the company now says it will reduce its overhead by cutting jobs. This appears to be the first step in a major reorganization of the company, as it seeks to right-size the organization for the industry’s new, smaller, and more competitive environment in which electronics manufacturers find themselves.
See more on Onkyo’s restructuring…
[Read more…] about Onkyo to Slash Overall Company Headcount by 30%, Cutting Management by 50%Private Equity Giant Apollo Global Management Acquires Tech Data in $5.4B Buyout
Tech Data, one of the largest technology distributors in the U.S. and globally, has been acquired by Apollo Global Management, a private equity powerhouse, in a deal valued at $5.4 billion. The deal announced today, is expected to close by mid-2020.
Read more on this mega-deal with Tech Data
[Read more…] about Private Equity Giant Apollo Global Management Acquires Tech Data in $5.4B BuyoutThe Curious Case of the Disappearance of Classé
BREAKING NEWS Acquired by Sound United Two Years Ago, Then Gone
It was January 2018 when I reported that Sound United had completed its acquisition of Classé, an acquisition which had been first announced in December of 2017. In the weeks leading up to that December, former owner Bowers & Wilkins was considering getting out of the electronics business…maybe. After months of confusion, where on any day executives at Classé teetered back-and-forth between survival and demise – it now seemed that Sound United had thrown them a lifeline…a chance to live to fight another day.
And then they dropped out of sight for the last two years…
What happened to Classé?…
[Read more…] about The Curious Case of the Disappearance of ClasséLG Smokes Q3 Forecast for Record Financial Results
LG Electronics Inc. is on a roll, as evidenced by their fiscal third quarter results. The company says it has set an all-time record for third quarter revenues while at the same time booking their best quarterly profit in a decade.
See more details on LG’s Q3 results…
[Read more…] about LG Smokes Q3 Forecast for Record Financial ResultsSharp & Foxconn Stiff Korean Factory Equipment Suppliers on Money Owed
Korean media is reporting that Sharp, the former Japanese powerhouse brand now owned by Taiwan’s Foxconn, is late on approximately tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars worth of payments to Korean factory gear makers. Not only are they late, but they are said to be demanding even more discounts on the outstanding debt owed to multiple South Korean suppliers of factory equipment destined for use in LCD production factories. All of this is being done in violation of covenants in their purchase contracts with these suppliers.
This dispute may raise to level of government intervention.