Strategy in TECH...
Sound United, LLC, one of the audio industry’s leading providers of high-quality branded electronics and loudspeaker products, announced late Wednesday that it is being acquired by Masimo Corporation, a global provider of medical products, in a deal valued at $1.025 billion. The two companies have entered into a definitive agreement in a transaction that is expected to close later in 2022.
In an internal email circulated to company employees on Monday, Joel Sietsema, Sound United’s Brand President of Marantz and Classé, announced a “change to the leadership structure of the Marantz and Classé organization.” That change is a big one – Dave Nauber, leader of the Classé brand for nearly 20-years, will be leaving the company at the end of March, “to pursue new opportunities.”
Major industry player Sound United is on the cusp of launching its first-ever virtual event called, appropriately enough, “Inside Sound United” (ISU). Coming November 9-12, 2021 to a computer near you, this highly immersive 4-day virtual event will be chock full of useful content and allow integrators to experience a side of the company not usually seen.
What a crazy couple of weeks it has been for exhibitors of CEDIA Expo 2021, and also for potential attendees who watched a slow-motion train wreck unfold right in front of their eyes. It was almost exactly two weeks ago – on August 10th – when Savant CEO Robert Madonna suddenly announced that Savant was pulling out of CEDIA, due to concerns over the surging infections from the Delta variant of COVID-19.
Little did we know then that this was the trickle before the flood…
Crestron Electronics announced this morning that it has made “the difficult decision to fully cancel our presence” at the rapidly approaching CEDIA Expo 2021, scheduled to start in just about two weeks in Indianapolis, IN. Crestron joins a long list of exhibitors who have also decided to pull out of the event, almost all due to health and safety concerns from the dramatic increase in infections and hospitalizations as a result of the rapidly spreading COVID-19 Delta variant.
The announcements are coming faster than I can get them written up, as I learned late Friday that Samsung has notified their dealers that they too have pulled out of the CEDIA Expo 2021. Pressure is building on other exhibitors to take a stand. A tipping point may be approaching…
In a note sent to dealers Friday, Sonos said that “after much deliberation” it has decided that it will no longer be participating in the CEDIA Expo 2021 as originally planned. Yet another in a line of exhibitors leaving the event, the company cited “the recent increases in COVID cases and the prevalence of the Delta variant.”
Positioned on prime real estate in the front row of the convention hall, with power brands Sony on one side and Samsung on the other, Sound United says that their booth at next month’s CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis, IN, will remain empty. The company announced today that, like Savant and Snap One before them, they too have decided to pull out of the Expo over concerns about the spike in cases of the COVID Delta variant.
Moody’s Investors Service, one of the top credit rating agencies in the world, said this month that DEI Sales, Inc., dba Sound United, has been assigned a credit rating of B2 and a probability of default rating of B2-PD. In addition to this, they are assigning another B2 rating to Sound United’s proposed $380 million senior secured first lien term loan due in 2028. The forward looking “outlook” for Sound United and this rating is “stable.”
Sound United, parent company to a wide range of audio lines, announced this week that it has hired Trip Randall, a former executive with sneaker & sports gear maker Nike, to be the new President of Denon. The company says this move is part of their plan to “revitalize marketing” at Denon. They also say they are looking to “boost direct-to-consumer sales” as well as several other initiatives.
