Strategy in TECH...
Change continues to come fast at Masimo Corporation as well-known and respected Brand President and General Manager Joel Sietsema announced on Tuesday that he was no longer with Masimo Consumer, the audio division of the company. This announcement, coming as it did without warning or explanation, raised a lot of eyebrows around the industry – with many reaching out to Strata-gee seeking context.
AVPro Global Holdings, LLC, parent company to growing technology brands such as AVPro Edge, AudioControl Pro, Bullet Train, Murideo, and Then Audio, announced today that it has named well-known industry executive Mike “Sparky” Detmer as its Chief Operating Officer. Detmar is well known to many in custom integration for his long stint at Niles Audio, part of Nortek, and once a pillar brand for many integrators across the country.
Now Detmer joins AVPro Global to help them scale their operations in support of their fast-growing residential and commercial integrator solutions business.
A new high-end, high-performance, direct-to-consumer audio company called Austin AudioWorks is officially launching the brand during the upcoming AXPONA show at the Schaumberg Convention Center in Chicago, IL from April 12-14. The company says its products “are very different from the mainstream” and show attendees will want to stop by and audition the new line in person at the show.
One business day after Masimo Corp. [Nasdaq: MASI] announced plans for a spin-off of its Consumer division, the business unit formed by the acquisition of Sound United, activist investor Politan Capital Management and its CIO Quentin Koffey – a current Masimo Director – announced the nomination of two more independent director candidates for the Board of Directors. In a statement accompanying the announcement, Koffey takes the gloves off alleging Board dysfunction, uncooperative management, and says Kiani’s desire for control “is troubling.”
Pop a fresh bowl of popcorn and settle into a comfortable chair…things are getting pretty interesting in this story of escalating boardroom and management drama.
Leading consumer speaker brand Klipsch announced this week that it is partnering with Marvel Animation’s X-Men ’97 as the official home speakers for the series which launched on Disney+ Wednesday. If you have kids, you likely know the popularity of the X-Men franchise, which with this new series looks to trade on that popularity to the benefit of both partners.
The overall housing market has been an economic laggard as the country has seen its economy rebound in the post-pandemic era. The reason for this is primarily due to an unusual combination of high interest rates AND high home prices AND limited available inventory of homes for sale. It is a triple witching that has bedeviled the housing industry in the post-pandemic era.
But is housing about to turn up?
Recently, Parasound conducted another online Town Hall meeting for dealers interested in learning more about the brand’s progress under the leadership of new owner, CEO David Sheriff. Held via Microsoft Teams on a recent Saturday to facilitate participation, it lasted an impressive 1¾ hours long with the majority of all participant questions answered.
Emerald Holding, Inc. (NYSE: EEX), the parent company of Emerald Expositions, one of the country’s largest B2B tradeshow exposition companies, reported its Fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and full-year results. The results were mixed with full-year revenues growing by 17.5% compared to Fiscal 2022, but profits collapsing by 102% to a Net Loss.
Company management expressed extreme optimism on a call with financial analysts, but its stock value dropped dramatically the day it released these numbers.
In what may be another sign of the post-pandemic blues, data published this week by research firm Antenna showed that growth in streaming service subscriptions in the U.S. dropped by 50% in 2023. Some are saying the boom in streaming is over…or could it be an over-adjustment that will correct itself and return to growth again soon?
This week, Josh.ai held a significant launch of several new products, app improvements, and new integrations as it continues its journey from a voice interface into a full system control provider. While a voice update was part of this announcement, it felt deemphasized as the company pursued a greater role in the industry as a full control solution provider by launching a richer app user experience (UX), the introduction of a touch panel interface, and a round of new integrations.
