Strategy in TECH...
Long rumored and now confirmed, Gentex Corporation (Nasdaq: GNTX), an approximately $2.4 billion supplier of largely automotive-related products, announced this morning that it has agreed to acquire Voxx International (Nasdaq: VOXX) in an all-cash transaction valued at $7.50 per share. The transaction covers all Voxx divisions, including the newly shrunk Premium Audio Company that holds just three audio brands – Onkyo, Klipsch, and Integra.
Azione Unlimited, a buying group of predominantly custom integration dealers that is part of the Nationwide Marketing Group family of dealer buying organizations, announced recently that it is adding Mike Cleary, Sonance Senior Director of Strategic Accounts, to its Board of Advisors. Unique to Azione, for years it has maintained an advisory board consisting of five dealer members and five vendor members to operate as its “strategic think tank.” The board’s role is to assist group management in fostering innovation, enhancing business success, and strengthening connections within the smart home industry.
It was a cool fall morning as I headed into New York City for a meeting that I’d been anxiously anticipating for weeks. The skies were gray and rain was definitely threatening, but nothing could dampen my interest in meeting with one of the newest key executives already exerting significant influence in our industry – Hagan Kappler, CEO of Daisy.
Procella Audio BV, a manufacturer of high-performance speakers for residential and commercial cinemas, announced on Tuesday that it has appointed well-known industry executive Tom Gandulla as its U.S. Director of Sales. Gandulla’s appointment was announced by Procella’s USA Managing Director Chuck Back.
In a new report last week, we learned that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched an investigation into RTW Investments over its role in an “empty voting” scheme related to the Masimo Corp. proxy battle which concluded in September at the Masimo Annual Stockholders Meeting. Masimo, now under new board management, has accused former CEO Joe Kiani and RTW of colluding in an empty voting scheme to try and manipulate a board election in their favor and deprive shareholders of their voting rights.
Late Tuesday, Masimo’s communications team reached out to Strata-gee to provide a statement designed to counter or otherwise address unspecified “speculative articles” on the recent pronouncement from Masimo CFO Micah Young that the Sound United division may end up being treated as a “discontinued operation” if the Board decides not to spin it off as a publicly-traded company.
Why are people speculating about that? Read on…
Sales of newly constructed single-family homes dropped to a two-year low in October as rising mortgage rates and persistent high prices impacted the affordability of available homes and served to keep buyers on the sidelines. Some experts also noted that elevated hurricane activity also kept buyers away, especially in the South region.
Last week, a jury was convened for a special trial to determine reasonable damages in the matter of GeigTech East Bay LLC v. Lutron Electronics Co., Inc. GeigTech, the plaintiff in this case is the manufacturer of motorized shade products marketed under the J Geiger brand, an independent company owned by Savant (and which is not a party to this litigation). Lutron has already been found to have infringed on certain patents held by Geigtech and the original jury’s large damages award was set aside by the judge who found it to be excessive. This new trial was held to determine a more reasonable damages amount.
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the CEDIA Tech & Business Summit at the Hilton Hotel in Hasbrouck Heights in Northern New Jersey. To my eyes, this was a well-attended event and I was impressed with how the Association has put together a well-oiled machine that shows some real progress in elevating the value of attending a regional industry event like this.
On Tuesday, Bose Corporation – a privately held manufacturer and marketer of a variety of predominantly audio products like headphones, speakers, soundbars and car audio – announced it has acquired McIntosh Group, a high-end manufacturer of electronics under the McIntosh brand and speakers/phono cartridges under the Sonus faber brand. Terms of the deal were not revealed and a buzz has descended around the industry as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.
