Significant Staff Terminations Drop Headcount
We are hearing from multiple sources both public and private that Thiel Audio has ceased operations, effective November 30, 2017. If true, the news would be a sad punctuation to the end of the story of a once proud high-end audio brand that since 2012 has endured multiple CEO’s and their changing business plans. Current CEO Elyse McKenna is, by our count, the fifth CEO at Thiel since the end of 2012 – a year which started with co-founder Kathy Gornik as the CEO who then sold the company to David B. Griffin, a wealthy farmer and landowner according to our sources.
But, apparently, the answer to the question posed in our headline is that it depends on who you ask. CEO Elyse McKenna, in a telephone interview this afternoon, denied that Thiel is closed and tells us the company remains open for business.
See more on this confusing news on Thiel…
We began hearing from different sources last week that something was going on at Thiel…although nothing specific was mentioned. We reached out to CEO Elyse McKenna to get an update, a sort of first 100-days follow-up, after speaking with her in August when she was first appointed CEO.
Then this week, we heard more about Thiel, including that the company had apparently closed down. At first, we got no response from anyone directly associated with Thiel. Then, on a tip, we visited the Facebook page of Dennis Crosson, Director of Engineering for Thiel. There we saw a post dated Tuesday of this week from Mr. Crosson announcing that Thiel had closed down at the end of November. The post, which was remarkably matter-of-fact, acted as though this news was no big surprise.
It said in part:
“A week ago Monday, it was announced that our company was closing and that Thursday was our last day. It was not a shock because we had watched our business remain stagnant for a very long time. There were many last-ditch efforts made by our new sales and marketing team, but as the passing of ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’ showed no improvements, there was no other conclusion to be made.”
Still Open for Business
We again reached out to McKenna again, this time to attempt to verify the company’s status. Before we connected with McKenna, we heard from yet another source that the company has cut back to a skeletal staff that is left to plan the company’s eventual shutdown.
Then, this afternoon, we connected with McKenna. As though flicking a fly from her shoulder, McKenna was almost nonchalant about our questions.
“So, we are very much still open for business – I don’t know exactly where that [news of their closing] has come from,” McKenna said with remarkable equanimity. “Yes, there have been some changes to position us for our next phase of development. But as of right now, we are absolutely open and moving forward.”
Significant Staff Terminations
Those changes, McKenna mentions are staff terminations. Layoffs?..we asked. “I wouldn’t say layoffs, but there were a few people that have been let go, for us to be able to move into our next direction.”
McKenna didn’t want to give us an exact number on how many were let go, but as we persisted, she said, “There were definitely less than ten who were let go. We still have staff here [HQ] and at the studio and in Lexington.”
No one on the management team was let go, McKenna said, making no mention of the apparent termination of their Director of Engineering. The terminations were across the board in all departments, she told us. Other sources told us the terminations were almost all in sales and engineering.
Remaining Headcount
We asked, what’s the total remaining headcount? “Eight,” McKenna responded.
McKenna kept referring to their goal of positioning the company for the “next phase” or “our next direction.” So we asked her to tell us just what that is. Unfortunately, she declined, saying this news is not yet ready to be publicly announced.
“Well, there are still some things that we are not yet ready to publicly talk about,” McKenna said. “However, I will say that we aren’t going anywhere, and we are still moving forward on the path since our inception to the role in August – which is refocusing on being a speaker company and the new line. And developing new products within the line.”
Looking Forward
“We are excited and looking forward for what is next for us,” McKenna proclaimed.
Whatever that is… McKenna says that she thinks that she’ll be in a position to reveal this “next direction” sometime in Q1 of 2018. In the meantime, the company has no plans to exhibit at CES and they are still deciding if they want to attend CEDIA. They will, however be at Sundance and NAMM.
McKenna tells us there will be new models launched in 2018 in the same late Q1/early Q2 time frame. Again, she declined to tell us what those were at this time.
For more information, see: www.thielaudio.com.
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