Strategy in TECH...
If this is December, than the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is just around the corner. Once again, we are asking all strata-GEE.com and ALERT readers to take a few short minutes out of their day to take our survey and share their thoughts on this important event.
Whether you’re planning on traveling to Las Vegas, NV to attend the show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 8-11 or not…we want to hear YOUR opinion of this event.
Core Brands, a division of Nortek, Inc.’s TECH segment, announced today that it has appointed Chris Bundy as its new Director of Marketing Communications. In this role, the company says that Bundy is responsible for “developing and delivering innovative branding, marketing strategies, and product launches across then brand lines…” Bundy’s most recent position was director of marketing for Atlona.
“It’s really not that fancy,” new Thiel CEO Bill Thomas told us with a chuckle and a noticeable Southern drawl when we asked about his private equity company that was mentioned in a Thiel press release announcing its acquisition last week. [See our post on the acquisition here…] In a telephone interview with strata-GEE.com earlier this week, the 55-year old Thomas said it was simply he and two friends that came together to purchase Thiel Audio Products Company – not some high-powered M&A company.
Reuters/Ipsos published a new poll seeking to answer the question of how holiday shoppers are progressing with their gift buying. After all, there’s less than 20 days left until Christmas – surely shoppers took advantage of the early Black Friday specials to get all of their gift shopping done at great prices…right?
Just one day after Qualcomm, Inc. announced a technology pact and investment deal with Japan’s troubled Sharp Corp., word comes out of Taiwan that Hon Hai Precision Co. Ltd. may still be interested in taking a major position in the company. According to a Taiwanese newspaper, they have been told that Hon Hai may yet invest enough to own 9.9% of Sharp – making them Sharp’s single largest shareholder – to be decided by March 31, 2013.
Qualcomm, Inc. announced today that it has reached an agreement with Japan’s Sharp Corp. on the expansion of a technology agreement with its Pixtronix, Inc. division to create high quality color, low-power MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) displays based on Sharp’s IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) technology. The agreement also provides for Sharp to utilize existing LCD factories to provide manufacturing…and most importantly for the struggling Japanese manufacturer…for Qualcomm to invest $120 million to become a minority shareholder in Sharp.
Nortek, Inc. announced today that it has appointed Kris Holla Chief Sales Officer of Data Center Products. This position, newly created by the company, involves leading the charge in increasing Nortek’s market share in “mission critical data center and server markets.”
The Nikkei in Tokyo is reporting today that JVC Kenwood has revealed that it expects to achieve ¥13 billion ($158 million) in net profit for fiscal 2015. This rate is more than double its fiscal 2011 level of profit…and an ambitious target.
In a somewhat surprising reversal of fortune for the housing market, new data from the U.S. Department of Commerce shows that sales of new single family homes actually declined in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 368,000 units. This rate is a decline of 0.3% below the revised September rate of 369,000 units.
