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UEI Earns Wide National News Coverage for All the Wrong Reasons

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UEI screenshot with logo

Allegations of Conspiring With China’s Gov’t to Use Uyghurs in a Forced Labor Arrangement

In a rare show of bipartisanship, a group of U.S. Senators has sent a strongly worded letter to a leading consumer electronics industry remote control maker Universal Electronics, Inc. (UEI) launching a probe into the company’s hiring practices in China. Unique to UEI is that they own their own factories in China (most contract with existing China OEM factories) and a recent damning investigation by Reuters alleges the company is working with the Chinese government to utilize a widely persecuted Uyghur minority in a forced labor arrangement, a human rights violation. UEI has denied the accusation but so far has not provided data to back up their denial.

See more on the UEI labor situation in China

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CEDIA Names Daryl Friedman as New CEO; Has Extensive Association Experience

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Photo of Daryl Friedman

New CEDIA CEO Tells Strata-gee, ‘I Promise You Transparency’

The Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) announced today that it has named Daryl Friedman as its new Global President & CEO. Friedman’s appointment is effective as of November 27, 2021. Don’t know that name? I’m not surprised as Friedman, an experienced Association executive, comes from the Recording Academy…the folks who bring you the Grammy awards. In an interview this week, Friedman told me that he’s close to the engineers and producers – the highly technical folks in his current association – so he brings a clear technology appreciation to his new role.

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Well-Known Industry Vet Lawrence Davis Joins Vital

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logo for Vital

CI coaching business Vital announced this week that well-known industry veteran Lawrence Davis has joined the company as its new VP of Business Development. The company says that this move is “the first step in their growth plan.”

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Moody’s Upgrades Credit Rating of Once Bankrupt Guitar Center, Parent of AVDG

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Moody’s Investors Service, one of the nation’s largest credit rating agencies, announced last week that it has raised the credit rating of Guitar Center, the owner of custom integration company Audio Visual Design Group. Guitar Center has struggled for years, finally falling into bankruptcy – from which it emerged about ten months ago in December 2020.

Read more about Guitar Center & AVDG’s elevated rating

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Nortek Security & Control Acquired by Italy’s Nice

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Nice headquarters in Oderzo, TV, Italy

Nice, a global manufacturer of Smart Home, Security, and Home & Building Automation products based in Italy, announced today that it has acquired Nortek Security & Control – purchased from Melrose plc for $285 million. The move expands Nice’s portfolio and strengthens its North American presence.

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Executive Search Firm The Park West Group Names Managing Director

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A leading tech industry-focused executive search firm, The Park West Group, has recently expanded by adding Mark Crandell as its Managing Director. The company, which touts the tagline “Wired for Success,” says this expansion of its team will both help to drive organizational effectiveness and open new opportunities for growth.

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Who Owns the CEDIA Expo? And Other Important Questions of Context

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CEDIA Expo 2021

As I am sure that most readers of this post will know, during CEDIA Expo at the beginning of September, I published a continuously updated post tracking which previously announced exhibitors subsequently made the decision to pull out of the event as the COVID Delta variant raged on. A remarkable realization occurred as I worked on that post, literally speaking with dozens, if not hundreds, of exhibitors and attendees for that event – many of them were confused about who owned the CEDIA Expo!

See why who owns the CEDIA Expo matters…

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After Strata-gee Report on Changes at Kaleidescape, It Releases a Statement

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Kaleidescape Terra 72 terabyte movie server

Last Friday, Strata-gee broke the news that both Cheena Srinivasan and Michael Malcolm, co-founders of Kaleidescape, had left the company recently to pursue new opportunities. (A third co-founder, Dan Collens, left the company back in 2006.) Kaleidescape, the leading media server manufacturer in the upscale residential space, is an important supplier to many custom integrators, so this is a big change. Late Friday, after Strata-gee broke the news of the change, the company put out a formal statement on the situation.

See what Kaleidescape had to say about the exit of the co-founders

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Melrose Unloads Nortek Control for Just $285 Million

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Photo of Nortek facility, now part of Melrose

Only Ergotron Remains…for Now…from the Original Acquisition

Melrose PLC, the private equity turnaround expert that purchased the entirety of Nortek back in 2016, unceremoniously let it slip in a bullet point of a report on financial results, that it has found a buyer for the last remaining piece of the Nortek puzzle they have struggled to turn around over the years. Although they did not name the buyer, Melrose says a contract has been signed for a $285 million deal – remarkably low considering all the brands included in this transaction.

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Snap One Reports 34% Increase in Q2 Sales, With a Reduced $1.1M Net Loss

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Snap One Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SNPO) announced the results of their fiscal second quarter, the period that ended June 25, 2021. This is the first official report to investors for the newly public company, and Snap One executives were excited to talk about all the positive milestones they achieved in the quarter – first and foremost, launching a successful public offering. Aside from a technical glitch in their conference call with analysts, it was all good news from the company.

See more details on the Snap One quarterly report

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