Strategy in TECH...
Big changes are coming to Sharp, Corp. in the wake of their acquisition by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co – better known as Foxconn. News out of Japan notes that the deal between Sharp and Foxconn officially closes at the end of this month. According to both parties, the acquisition is proceeding smoothly and is fully expected to close on time.
The Department of Justice (D.O.J.) has notified Nortek, Inc. that it has closed its investigation into a corporate bribery scandal involving the company’s operations in China and will take no further actions, according to a report by Reuters. Nortek, parent company of Core Brands – a holding company of several custom integration brands – had revealed the existence an internal investigation into the matter by the company to investors several quarters ago. At the same time, Nortek reported the matter to the authorities, noting that they would fully cooperate with any government investigation.
Nortek “will not be charged because the U.S. [company] had turned themselves in,” Reuters noted. Nortek stock was up 5.19% in late afternoon trading on the news.
SpringDeck, an industry-focused marketing content aggregator, announced this week that they are expanding their model to offer custom integrators a free app to access their content database. In the past, integrators could only access SpringDeck’s extensive content stored in manufacturer-centric “libraries” by paying a fee. Now, through this special app called SpringDeck Lite, integrators gain this access for free.
What a weird Spring we’re having in the Northeast. It can be 80+ degrees one day, only to be followed by two or three days of cold and rain. Such was the case last Thursday as we traveled to a pre-Grand Reopening event at Bob & Ron’s World Wide Stereo in Montgomeryville, PA. It was raining and in the low 50-degrees as we arrived for the early evening event, motivating us to turn up our collar as we exited our vehicle for a little extra protection from the cold and the rain.
Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) announced this morning that they have been acquired by EVA Automation, a Silicon Valley-based technology company founded just two years ago by Gideon Yu. Yu is a well-known sports and technology executive that has launched EVA Automation with the expressed goal of “reimagining the audio/video experience by making products that will change how people interact and think about the home.”
Cupertino, CA-based Apple, Inc. announced its fiscal first quarter results yesterday and it wasn’t a pretty picture. And although Wall Street acted with shock, no one should have been surprised as Apple had warned this would be a tough quarter back in January. Apple remains a huge and cash-rich company, but the deeper you dig into this latest report, the more obvious it becomes that there is a legitimate cause for concern.
We’ve recently learned about a program at McIntosh Laboratory, Inc., in which the company approached select prominent individuals, such as famous musicians or other celebrities, and provided them with McIntosh products directly, without the involvement of its dealers. The program, according to sources, was launched by Linda Passaro, a former Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for McIntosh when it was part of D&M Holdings. Passaro was terminated in November 2011 by President Charlie Randall, but the program apparently remained in force for some time.
Tidal, the high quality music streaming service purchased by rapper Jay Z one year ago, is said to be adding movie streaming to their service, Page Six (part of the New York Post) reported yesterday. According to the report, Tidal has already notified Apple that it intends to add movie streaming to its app, formally starting the required approval process.
Tidal has had an exceptionally challenging year, with three CEOs in nine months. Will opening up to competition on a movie service make things better?
The Boards of both Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (better known as Foxconn) and Sharp Corp. have approved the acquisition of 66% of the outstanding shares of Sharp by the Taiwanese OEM manufacturer of largely Apple, Inc. products. This day came largely as a result of some savvy negotiations and tactics from Foxconn’s CEO Terry Gou, who overcame tremendous odds to score this win.
Just two weeks after we told you about Moody’s Investors Service downgrading Gibson Brands credit to junk status, the company has put two of their properties up for sale in an apparent effort to raise some much-needed cash. According to local reports, both properties contain warehouses and are located in redevelopment areas in downtown Nashville.
