Bloomberg News reported on Monday that the Best Buy Co. board of directors has received a letter with an offer from company founder and former chairman Richard Schulze to acquire all outstanding shares of the company stock and take it private. Schulze is said to have the support of at least two private equity companies and an investment bank that is confident it can arrange adequate financing. Schulze also says several former Best Buy executives are interested in joining him in the process of reinvigorating the company.
Retailers
Velodyne Hires Major Retail Executive to Guide their Direct-to-Consumer Model
Velodyne Acoustics, Inc. announced today that it has hired George Manlove – formerly of Vanns, Inc. – as its Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing. Manlove is a very high-profile executive best known for his 26-year tenure as President and CEO of Vann’s, Inc., a Montana-based traditional bricks-and-mortar and Internet retailer. Manlove also served as chairman of the Progressive Retailers Organization (PRO Group), a national retailer buying group. [Read more…] about Velodyne Hires Major Retail Executive to Guide their Direct-to-Consumer Model
High-End Electronics Retail Innovator Mike Kay Dies
UPDATED 7/17/12: New family wishes (see below)
You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been – and, to this day, our industry stands on the shoulders of giants such as Avery Fisher, Saul Marantz, and Sidney Harman. But even these industry greats couldn’t do it alone. If it weren’t for their retail partners…pioneers in their own right…no one would have purchased their marvelous inventions. And that’s why our roster of most prominent industry heroes must include people like Michael Kakadelis…better known as Mike Kay…owner of Manhattan’s Lyric Hi Fi & Video, who passed away last Saturday. [Read more…] about High-End Electronics Retail Innovator Mike Kay Dies
JVC Kenwood to Sell System Streaming Soothing Sounds of Forests
JVC Kenwood Corp. said that next spring it will begin selling a system designed to deliver the soothing sounds of the forest streamed over the Internet in real time. The company will be involved in all aspects of the system from setting up source equipment to collect the sounds of various forests, to coordinating the delivery of the forest content across the Internet, to delivering unique speaker systems in the homes of end users with technology to receive and play the environmental sounds.
How does it work?…
[Read more…] about JVC Kenwood to Sell System Streaming Soothing Sounds of Forests
Alliance Expo 2012 Draws Large Dealer Attendance
Audio Associates Corp. launched its “Alliance Expo 2012” Dealer Show Tuesday at the Doubletree Hotel in Newark, New Jersey. Attendees braved gray, rainy, sticky, humid weather…and a resulting variety of roadway-clogging traffic accidents…to travel from all around the New York Metro area and the Mid-Atlantic to see product displays from 23 manufacturers representing top brands in the specialty A/V business. [Read more…] about Alliance Expo 2012 Draws Large Dealer Attendance
QR Codes are Quite Popular with Electronics Shoppers
New research from market researcher The Nielsen Company conducted just this month (May 2012) shows that those QR (quick response) codes are popular with shoppers in many different types of stores. But these codes are most popular with smartphone-equipped shoppers at electronics stores according to this latest research. Why? [Read more…] about QR Codes are Quite Popular with Electronics Shoppers
New York’s Huge ‘Alliance Expo’ Dealer Show is Next Week
<May 16, 2012> New York manufacturers representative firm Audio Associates tells me that they are ready-to-go for their huge dealer show called “Alliance Expo 2012 – Partnering for a Stronger Tomorrow” scheduled for next week and originally announced in the ALERT last month. Launching this coming Tuesday, May 22nd and wrapping up Wednesday, the company says they are pulling out all of the stops for another mega-event, taking place this year at the Hilton Doubletree Hotel in Newark, NJ. [Read more…] about New York’s Huge ‘Alliance Expo’ Dealer Show is Next Week
Best Buy’s Founder is Forced Out as Ex-CEO Receives $6.6 million Severance
<May 16, 2012> The news out of Best Buy Stores, Inc. continues to be ugly. Earlier this week, we learned 
that the board investigation into the unseemly Brian Dunn affair has taken an unexpected turn, resulting in Best Buy founder and board chairman Richard Schulze being forced out of his own company. And yet, some market analysts are celebrating. Why? [Read more…] about Best Buy’s Founder is Forced Out as Ex-CEO Receives $6.6 million Severance
The Top Ten Leadership Lessons of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos
<April 4, 2012> In an upcoming issue of Forbes magazine, entrepreneur Jeff Bezos will be profiled and 
analyzed as the technology-industry’s leading “philosopher-CEO.” As part of this coverage, Forbes contributor George Anders solicited the rule-breaking CEO’s lessons of leadership. [Read more…] about The Top Ten Leadership Lessons of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos
Best Buy Bombed by Wall Street as Word Comes Its Bonds May Get Rated ‘Junk’
<April 4, 2012> Best Buy Co. may be starting to feel a little like Rodney “I don’t get no respect” Dangerfield as Wall Street reacted strongly to news today that Standard and Poor’s may drop the industry’s largest retailer’s bond rating to “junk” status. As word leaked out, Best Buy’s stock dropped 2.55%, more than twice the rate the overall Dow dropped. [Read more…] about Best Buy Bombed by Wall Street as Word Comes Its Bonds May Get Rated ‘Junk’
