Strategy in TECH...
In the latest government data on new residential construction, housing starts dropped in February by 10.3%. This is the second month-in-a-row that starts dropped, after falling 6% overall in January.
So what do analysts think this downward cycle means? Is the housing construction segment beginning a period of contraction?
On Tuesday, Sonos held a major investors event that started off with the introduction of their new Roam portable speaker. But the real purpose of this event was to provide investors information on their financial performance. And stock analysts and the media got quite a show – and a few surprises – as the company revealed their formula for success.
Late in the day on Tuesday, Sonos held an investor event – their first such event – and kicked it off by announcing the new Roam portable speaker. While the $169 MSRP Roam speaker was interesting, I was more interested in trying to figure out the thinking behind why they wanted this small and relatively inexpensive portable as their next big thing.
Melrose Industries Plc has announced that their financial results for fiscal 2020 and it wasn’t pretty. The company swung to a net loss on lower revenues. They said this was mostly due to the Coronavirus pandemic’s massive impact on its GKN Aerospace division. To streamline operations and raise cash, Melrose told the press that it has again put Nortek up for sale.
When two power players decide to create something new together, the result could potentially shake the earth and be felt by all in the industry – especially by their competitors. Such was the first thought that came to mind when I learned that Crestron Electronics and Origin Acoustics – one, a home automation and integrated systems Jedi Master…and the other, a leading brand in premium architectural audio solutions – came together to create a new line of residential audio products under the Crestron brand.
Legrand AV announced today that it has selected NuTech Group as its new manufacturers sales representative for the Mid-Atlantic region. NuTech will provide sales and technical support for the wide roster of Legrand’s residential custom integration lineup.
A new Axios-Ipsos poll has shown a marked turn towards more consumer optimism in American’s attitude about the condition of their lives under COVID. They are becoming dramatically more hopeful as the administration takes actions to step-up the availability of vaccines.
Vizio Holding Corp. (Vizio) filed an S-1 registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO) of its stock on the public market. Their offering is being handled by J.P. Morgan and BoA, both of whom will act as lead book runners for the offering. The company hopes to use the symbol VZIO on the New York Stock Exchange.
But this isn’t their first try at going public.
Late last week, multiple news services reported that US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order directing a “broad review” of the supply chains for critical materials – critical materials that include, by the way, semiconductors. The fact is, this might not end well for Tech…
A guest post by Paul Tamberelli
Long time industry executive Jason Baumann, most recently Regional Sales Manager for Yamaha, passed away unexpectedly on February 21, 2021 at his home in Frisco, Texas (a suburb of Dallas). Jason was just 59 at the time of his passing.
