Only six months to go and word has emerged that the Consumer Technology Association – the trade group behind the annual Consumer Electronics show – has proactively taken steps to avoid repeating the mistakes that caused them to endure a plethora of embarrassing headlines last year. The controversy, a self-inflicted wound, surrounded the Association’s awarding – then rescinding – of a CES 2019 Innovation Award…and retroactive cancellation of booth space for that company. The news dominated the early headlines during the January 2019 event…mostly because the matter involved sex.
News
More Mixed Signals from Housing – Starts Down, Sales Up
In the choppy waters of today’s current economy, we continue to get mixed signals – this time from the housing market. Last week, we learned that residential construction starts declined in June by 0.9% below the rate in May. This week, we find that sales of newly built homes in June increased by 7% as compared to sales in May.
What should we make of developments in housing?…
[Read more…] about More Mixed Signals from Housing – Starts Down, Sales UpLG Adds Apple AirPlay 2 & HomeKit to Select TVs
Says It’s the First Global TV Maker to Support HomeKit
LG Electronics announced today that starting tomorrow Apple AirPlay and HomeKit will be available on its 2019 Thinq AI TV line. The company says this makes them the first global television manufacturer to support HomeKit.
See more on LG offering Apple HomeKit on its TVs…
[Read more…] about LG Adds Apple AirPlay 2 & HomeKit to Select TVsU.S. No Longer Global Biz Leader, There’s a New #1 – China
Fortune just published its latest Global 500 ranking of the top companies in the world – and the results this year are earth-shaking. For the first time ever, since this list was launched in 1990, another country has more companies on the list of top companies than the U.S. And the bad news for the White House is that new #1 is China, the country with which it is currently in the midst of a high stakes trade war.
See how China has surpassed the U.S. in global top companies…
[Read more…] about U.S. No Longer Global Biz Leader, There’s a New #1 – ChinaDid Control4 Just Try to End-Run Multiple Shareholder Lawsuits?
As Strata-gee recently reported, there are currently seven active lawsuits that have been filed against Control4 and their Board of Directors in the wake of their acquisition by SnapAV. In a new DEFA14A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday, the company addresses the issue of these lawsuits – saying that they are going to fight them. But then they do something very curious – they file an amendment to their original Schedule 14A filing, their Proxy Statement, with added information that appears to add missing material in response to allegations in the lawsuits filed against them.
Is Control4 trying to end-run the litigation just days before shareholders vote? See more below…
[Read more…] about Did Control4 Just Try to End-Run Multiple Shareholder Lawsuits?Control4 Hit With Another Class Action Lawsuit by Shareholders
The Control4 Corporation has been hit with another class action lawsuit filed on behalf of all shareholders of their stock in connection with their acquisition by Wirepath Home Systems, LLC – better known as SnapAV. Filed by the law firm of Rigrodsky & Long, P.A., the lawsuit alleges certain violations of Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and names both Control4 and its Board of Directors as defendants.
See more on this litigation against Control4…
[Read more…] about Control4 Hit With Another Class Action Lawsuit by ShareholdersSnapAV Continues to Grow Their Physical Footprint, Buys Custom Plus
SnapAV announced this afternoon that they have acquired Custom Plus Distributing, a regional distributor that started in the Pacific Northwest and expanded into California. This is the fourth acquisition by the company who seeks to grow their physical distribution footprint to better serve their customers in local markets.
See more on this new acquisition by SnapAV…
[Read more…] about SnapAV Continues to Grow Their Physical Footprint, Buys Custom PlusSnapAV Slammed with Credit Downgrade by Moody’s
Credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the credit rating of Wirepath LLC (corporate name of SnapAV) from B2 to B3 in the wake of their announced acquisition of Control4. The primary reason for the downgrade is due to the fact that SnapAV will be forced to increase their debt by an additional $390 million to a new high of $683 million in order to close on this acquisition.
See more on SnapAV’s credit downgrade…
[Read more…] about SnapAV Slammed with Credit Downgrade by Moody’sEx-Nortek Exec Speaks With Strata-gee, See What’s On His Mind
The last ninety days or so have been somewhat turbulent at Nortek Security and Control (NSC), with two top executives departing under foggy circumstances. First, in May we learned that President Mike O’Neal had left the company. Then, last week, news emerged that Joe Roberts, Executive VP of Products and Marketing had also departed.
I reached out to Joe Roberts to try to find out what was up with all of these changes at NSC.
See what Roberts had to say about Nortek…
[Read more…] about Ex-Nortek Exec Speaks With Strata-gee, See What’s On His MindJumping June Jobs Report Suggests Softer Decline
With most economists on pins and needles over the recent number of economic data points that seem to suggest an impending economic slowdown, word came at the end of the last week that the latest jobs report from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics saw employment take a big jump. According to this latest data, employers added a significant 224,000 jobs in June, a big increase from May’s anemic results.