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Sonos App Disaster Spoils Launch of Ace & Better Results for Q3 of Fiscal 2024

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Last week, Sonos, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONO) announced the results for its third quarter of Fiscal Year 2024. CEO Patrick Spence must feel like the tech company can’t catch a break. The company successfully launched its first headphone product, Sonos Ace, to much fanfare in June – the load-in of which helped to drive better-than-expected results for the 3rd quarter of Fiscal 2024. And yet the company’s launch of its newest totally “re-architected” app turned into an unmitigated disaster – infuriating dealers and consumers alike and spoiling all of the positive momentum from Ace and the improved quarter.

What’s worse, the company warns financial analysts that the app disaster will likely continue, causing the company to push back the launch of two new products planned for the 4th quarter and to downwardly revise sales and profit forecasts for the next quarter and the full fiscal year. The ugliness, according to the company, will likely continue into the 1st quarter of Fiscal 2025. Ouch!

See more on the Sonos Q3 results, and the ongoing app disaster impact

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Integra DRX 3.4 Now Available at Adorama; Buyers Get 50% Off via Slickdeals

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Adorama page showing Integra DRX 3.4
This is the page you see when you browse directly to Adorama and find the Integra DRX 3.4 product page [Click to enlarge]

BREAKING NEWS

Strata-gee has learned that the popular Integra AVR model DRX 3.4 is now available at NY retail & online dealer Adorama. While Adorama was previously selling Onkyo- and Pioneer-branded models, the addition of this Integra unit appears to be an entirely new development. Not only that, but the consumer deal website Slickdeals has a special deal on the DRX 3.4, with a 50% discount, via a link to purchase at Adorama.

See what I’ve learned about Integra at Adorama

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Masimo Q2 Fiscal 2024 Results Show Healthcare Rebound, But Audio Declines Double-Digits

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Cover slide to Masimo earnings presentation

CEO Has a New Option for Offing Sound United

On Wednesday, Masimo Corporation (Nasdaq: MASI) reported its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 and the company’s Healthcare division showed solid signs of regaining traction as it continues to power out of the post-COVID doldrums of the last eighteen months to two years. Investors cheered the results by driving up shares of the company’s stock by more than 11%. However, the Non-Healthcare division (Sound United) continues to be troubled with revenues declining 13% in the quarter.

See more on the results for Masimo

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Revised Politan Proxy Material Offers a Surprising Masimo Tidbit

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Chancery Court Declines to Force an Earlier Stockholders Meeting

New proxy material produced and distributed to stockholders this week by Politan Capital Management – an activist investor in Masimo Corp (Nasdaq: MASI) – mostly contains information that was already known. The activist investor, as well as Masimo itself, must provide new proxy materials and voting forms as all previous votes were invalidated as a result of a rescheduling of the 2024 Annual Stockholders Meeting to September 19th (originally was to be July 25th).

But Politan included a few pages of updated background information which, among those items I’ve already written about, did include one fascinating or tantalizing bit of new information.

See more on the updated Politan proxy & its new Masimo tidbit

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Politan Reveals Masimo Lawsuit To All Investors; Says It’s Desperate & Defamatory

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Image of Masimo v. Politan lawsuit title page

Masimo: ‘Confidential Informants’ Allege Koffey Has Breached His Fiduciary Duties as a Director

Almost exactly one week ago, Masimo and its Board of Directors filed a lawsuit against Politan Capital Management in which it alleged Politan’s proxy materials contained material misrepresentations and asked the court to order the activist investor to correct them. The company also delayed its upcoming annual stockholders meeting from July to September. Two days after that, Politan responded with a countersuit in which it asked the court to order Masimo to hold its 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders as soon as possible.

Now Politan has taken the unusual step of publishing Masimo’s lawsuit against them and providing it to all Masimo stockholders. The Masimo suit, which has some outrageous claims against Politan and particularly CIO Quentin Koffey, is being provided by a confident Koffey who believes investors will see it for what he says it is…a desperate attempt to stop the investor vote for independent directors.

See more on Politan publishing the Masimo lawsuit against it

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With Week 3 of Strike About to Begin, Samsung Management Says, Let’s Talk

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NSEU leaders say worker participation has only increased as strike enters third week [Click to enlarge]

As I’ve been reporting, Samsung’s largest union, the 30,000+ member strong National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), has launched a strike against one of the largest employers in all of South Korea. This is not a common occurrence anywhere in Asia, and it is the first major strike Samsung has ever experienced.

Now, after two weeks of continuous work stoppage, Samsung management finally indicated to the union that it was interested in restarting the negotiations – a big win for union leaders.

See more on the first-ever union-directed work stoppage at Samsung

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Politan Returns Fire; Files Countersuit Against Masimo & Directors in Delaware

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Politan investor presentation cover slide
Cover slide to Politan’s investor presentation

Claims Company is Violating Its Own Bylaws & Delaware Law

On Tuesday, I told you that Joe Kiani and Masimo Directors filed a lawsuit against Politan Capital Management and Quentin Koffey, asking the courts to force Poltian to correct what it claims are material misrepresentations in Politan’s proxy materials provided to Masimo stockholders. Late Wednesday, Politan returned fire, filing its own countersuit – but in a much more strategic way…

See more on Politan countersuing Masimo

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Samsung Strike Suddenly Gets Serious

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The main union at Samsung, the NSEU, held a strike at a production facility
A union-staged event in front of a Samsung facility in the rain. Look past the signs to get a sense of the thousands of union members who participated in the strike [Click to enlarge]

The relationship between Samsung and its largest union is rapidly deteriorating and suddenly, a strike called by the union initially more for show than impact, has turned very serious. That means that as the union progresses its tactics, the impact on production is likely to quickly reach the point that it will be felt by the company and all of its customers.

See more on the escalating strike at Samsung

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On the Defensive, Kiani & Masimo’s Claws Come Out; Postpones Annual Meeting & Sues Politan

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Masimo Sues Politan image

Company Chooses to Delay Annual Stockholders Meeting & Set New Record Date

Masimo Corporation (Nasdaq: Masi) announced on Tuesday that it has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in California against Politan Capital Management and CIO Quentin Koffey, asking the court for an injunction to force Politan “to correct material misstatements and omissions”…in its “proxy materials.” It also says it has set a new date for its 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, with a new record date, “to ensure that the vote of the Company’s stockholders is fair and fully informed.” That move is clearly in reaction to evidence uncovered by Politan of a legal but ethically questionable move called “empty voting” in an apparent attempt by an individual who is a friend of Joe Kiani to swing the vote in management’s favor – a move that Politan says would disenfranchise investors who voted.

See the latest outburst of filings and accusations between Masimo & Politan

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More Messy Masimo Madness

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All Employees Threaten to Quit (Or Did They?); Politan Calls Out Voting Irregularities; JV Partner Proposes Price for Sound United

Every day brings us closer to the Masimo 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders scheduled for July 25th…and virtually every day also brings us more Masimo madness. The proxy war for two seats on the Board of Directors being fought between the company management and activist investor Politan Capital Management continues to heat up. Consequently, we learn new things every week, some of which can be disturbing. This week is no exception as we discover: 1) the company publishes letters from employees that suggest they may all quit; 2) the Joint Venture Partner interested in buying a majority stake in Sound United has offered terms that specify a price range it is willing to pay; and 3) Politan has filed paperwork with the SEC that includes a letter to the Masimo Board of Directors claiming it has detected voting irregularities known as “empty voting.”

See this latest installment of the battle for Masimo…

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