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Grinding – Embrace It & Stop Looking for That One Magic Move

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AVC logo for avc.com

As longtime readers may suspect, I am a bit of a newsy and as such, subscribe to an amazing array of sources of news and information. One such source is Fred Wilson, a cofounder of Union Square Ventures (USV), a New York City-based venture capital firm, who is a favorite of mine. Wilson does something that I admire and don’t seem to be able to equal – he posts to his blog EVERY day. Some of his posts are short, some long, some trivial, some surprisingly impactful.

Recently, Wilson (his blog: AVC, as in “A Venture Capitalist”) posted an item that really resonated with me – it’s about grinding…and I wanted to share this with Strata-gee.com readers. It is important…

What does Wilson mean by ‘grinding’?…

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James Loudspeaker Terminates Reps as Integration into Sonance Progresses

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James Loudspeaker logo

Early last week, a holiday week, sources reached out to relay the news that multiple manufacturer sales representatives were being terminated by James Loudspeaker. Happy Thanksgiving…you’re fired. In chats, I heard of the pain that some those reps felt – for while getting terminated is never a happy circumstance, getting terminated during holidays seems particularly poignant.

James Loudspeaker’s CEO & Sonance’s CSO speak to what is going on…

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NPR: American Speaker Manufacturer Says Tariffs May Force Him Out

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Photo of Dan Digre

This week, National Public Radio (NPR) tells the story of the Minneapolis Speaker Company, Inc., known as MISCO, a St. Paul, MN-based manufacturer of speaker drivers and systems sold mostly on an OEM basis, who is struggling to continue to manufacture products here in the U.S. as they have for the last 70 years. What threatens their ability to continue to do so? In a word…tariffs.

See more on the MISCO story…

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Last Week Onkyo, Now Sound United Reorganizes in Wake of Failed Acquisition Deal

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Sound United logo

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…

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Onkyo to Slash Overall Company Headcount by 30%, Cutting Management by 50%

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Also: Consolidating Facilities & Moving Headquarters

Onkyo logo

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…

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In Wake of Its Acquisition by Control4, Amina Splits Off from Triad Partnership to Go It Alone

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Amina Technologies' Keith Vanderkley at the 2019 CEDIA Expo

UK based Amina Technologies, manufacturer of so called “invisible speakers,” had for years been in a partnership with Triad who distributed their line. Yet in the wake of Triad’s acquisition by Control4, Amina ultimately chose to split off and go it alone – launching their independent sales effort at CEDIA Expo 2019.

See more on Amina’s line of invisible speakers…

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Private Equity Giant Apollo Global Management Acquires Tech Data in $5.4B Buyout

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Tech Data logo

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

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Toshiba Launches Consortium of 100 Companies to Drive ‘Internet of Things’ Market

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Photo of Toshiba Corp.'s headquarters in Tokyo
The Toshiba Corp. headquarters stands in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Toshiba Corp. announced this week that it has launched a large consortium of more than 100 companies in Japan for the purpose of creating new services and products to attack and drive the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) market. Consortium participants are companies of varying size and capabilities that cover the entire spectrum of the market.

Learn more about the new Toshiba IoT consortium…

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Classé to Launch New Delta Series Line in Triumphant Return to the Market

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BREAKING NEWS

Classe Delta Series Preamplifier/DAC
New Delta Series Preamplifier/DAC [Click to enlarge]

With almost two years away from the market after their acquisition by Sound United in January 2018, Classé says it will return to the audiophile electronics market in January 2020 with the launch of their new even more upscale Delta Series line consisting of two new amplifiers and one new preamplifier/DAC. But after so long away, what will it take for the company to re-establish the brand?

See more on the return of Classé…

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Sharp & Foxconn Stiff Korean Factory Equipment Suppliers on Money Owed

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Image of Sharp logo

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.

What is Sharp & Foxconn doing? And why?…

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