Strategy in TECH...
Draper Inc., a major manufacturer of shades, projection screens, solar control solutions, and more, announced this week a move to build up its management infrastructure to support its push into the residential custom integration channel. As part of this process, it has promoted Chris Sitarov and Pat Herron from within to two new Director of Sales roles overseeing the company’s sales force.
Sonance announced this week that it is transitioning its residential business in Canada to a direct model, ending its distributor-led approach that has existed there for several years. Beginning on January 1, 2023, all sales and service of residential products from Sonance, James Loudspeaker, and IPORT will be handled directly by Sonance’s salesforce.
Perhaps one of the more surprising events at CEDIA Expo 2022 – at least in my mind – was an event that took place early in the morning on the first official day of the show floor opening. This event, the CEDIA Advocacy Town Hall in which the organization intended to discuss the extent of their political advocacy conducted on behalf of the membership, seemed to me like something unlikely to draw much attention…or attendance.
Boy…was I wrong!
In a move that was widely anticipated, Snap One announced this week that it will acquire Parasol, a remote support service that since its launch has been based on Snap One’s OvrC system. The company says that this acquisition will result in “creating new opportunities for Snap One Partners to focus on running their business while increasing profitability, productivity and service levels to their customers.”
Two major manufacturer sales representative firms serving the Southeast region have merged to create a massive agency that they say is the largest representative firm servicing the Southeastern United States. The two firms are High-Tech Network based in Marietta, GA and Coresential, Inc. Residential Division based in Charlotte, NC.
Politan Capital Management LP filed an amended Schedule 13D to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) two important actions the activist investment company had recently taken. One of those actions was that it had increased its holdings of Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ: MASI) to 4,648,869 shares or nearly 9% of the company’s outstanding shares – making it a significant owner. And the second action? Politan has filed a “Verified Complaint” against the company and its Board of Directors – and boy, that complaint is a doozy!
This week, AVNation features Ted Green – me – on a special episode discussing the CEDIA Director Elections taking place right now. As you may know, there was some controversy surrounding this election as CEDIA’s board decided to change the normal election process where association members pick from a selection of nominees to vote on those they want on the Board of Directors. Instead, this year members vote with a simple yes/no on a predetermined slate of candidates selected by the Board’s Governance Committee.
The latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly show that housing starts – a measure of residential construction activity – continue its downward spiral, dropping in September to a rate of 1.4 million units, below economists’ forecast. Single-family housing starts hit their lowest level in more than two years as a slowing economy and sky-high mortgage rates depress demand for housing.
In the days leading up to the recent CEDIA Expo in Dallas, Nationwide Marketing Group, one of the largest buying groups in the U.S., announced that former ProSource VP Andy Orozco would be joining Nationwide as its Senior Vice President of Custom Integration. That news grabbed my attention as it came less than a year after Nationwide’s acquisition of one of the top custom integration buying groups, Azione Unlimited, back in October 2021.
It took a couple of weeks, but Emerald Expositions finally released the attendance figures for CEDIA Expo 2022. According to the exposition company, the attendance of nearly 12,000 “exceeded expectations” – their expectations apparently. But there is no question that it certainly blew away the attendance of just 1,400 folks who visited CEDIA Expo 2021.
