Toshiba financial issues update
– Reuters News Services is reporting that Chinese regulators have begun an antitrust review of Toshiba’s proposed deal to sell its NAND memory chip division.
Toshiba wins huge school district contract
– has renewed its existing agreement with the Los Angeles Unified School District, the USA’s second largest public school district
– two-year contract extension
– will continue to manage LAUSD’s fleet of over 4,000 Toshiba e-STUDIO™ MFPs and 6,000 printers
– managed print services are in use at the district’s downtown Los Angeles headquarters and 950 LAUSD schools
– supporting more than 650,000 students and 28,000 teachers.
Toshiba renews Steelers sponsorship
– renewing its contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers to continue as the preferred copier and service provider of the National Football League team
– extends the 10-year partnership for a minimum of five more years.
– Includes the team’s Heinz Field, UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, North Shore Place locations and Saint Vincent College training camp facility in Latrobe, Pa
– also four Pittsburgh-area Sidelines Stores’ retail operations.
Oval Partners makes another acquisition
– Oval Partners, a San Francisco based multi-family office private equity firm, announced an exciting new partnership with Flo-Tech, an award winning national provider of managed print services, who has been recognized on numerous occasions for their innovations in the delivery of national managed print solutions.
– Flo-Tech, founded in 1992, is headquartered in Middletown, Connecticut, and is dealer for Canon, HP, Lexmark and Xerox
– “We are excited by the growth opportunities that are in front of us by joining forces with Oval Partners and FlexPrint LLC,” states Leo Bonetti, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Flo-Tech
– With this acquisition, FlexPrint LLC now has revenues of over $200 million/year
Xerox shareholders dump stock
– Eqis Capital Management Lowered Holding by $1.99 Million or 74.58% and sold 71,231 shares
– California State Teachers Retirement System lessened its position in Xerox by 5.1% by selling 22,530 shares during the quarter.
– Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in shares of Xerox by 5.8% during the third quarter by selling 83,760 shares
– In last quarter, 403 investors sold XRX shares while 22 reduced holdings
Canon wins production print contract
– Award from L & D Mail Masters Inc., a full-service direct marketing shop in Indiana
– Installed an Océ VarioPrint i300 production color inkjet sheetfed digital press
– Supporting customers that include insurance companies, financial institutions, universities, national sales organizations, publishing companies, healthcare organizations, among others
– Reasons for choosing included:
o “ability to now color match across virtually all platforms”
o “Our customers require exact and specific colors, and that is what the i300 enables us to provide”
o inline booklet maker
o diverse media options
o high-speed output at lower per-page cost
Lexmark security issue with MFPs/printers
– Researchers at NewSky Security have found hundreds of Lexmark printers misconfigured, open to the public internet and easily accessible to anyone interested in taking control of targeted devices
– Researchers identified 1,123 Lexmark printers traced back to businesses, universities and in some cases U.S. government offices.
– “Adversaries with access to those printers can perform a number of different malicious activities ranging from adding a backdoor to capturing print jobs, taking a printer offline or printing junk content to physically disrupt a printer’s operation.”
– “We focus on printers which can be controlled by anyone without hacking skills because of gross negligence of the users,” said Ankit Anubhav, researcher with NewSky Security in an interview with Threatpost.
HP wins production print contract
Xerox signs up two more dealers
– authorized Hilyard’s Business Solutions, serving Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland
– authorized Rabbit Office Automation serving the San Francisco Bay are of northern California
Samsung bribery case continues
– Samsung de facto leader Jay Y. Lee had one more meeting than previously disclosed with former President Park Geun-hye, a witness said, supporting an assertion by prosecutors that the billionaire heir sought to cover up bribery involving the world’s biggest memory chipmaker.
– Park’s former secretary Ahn Bong-geun, who took the stand Monday, said he showed Lee into the house within South Korea’s presidential compound to meet with Park in 2014.
– Lee’s lawyers have said that Park and Lee met only once, in the city of Daegu for five minutes in the same year.
– The bribery allegations added fuel to an influence-peddling scandal that sparked nationwide protests and led to Park’s ouster in March.
– The judge in the first trial ruled that Lee bribed Park’s longtime confidante with horses in order to curry favor with Park.
– Lee’s appeal hearings are set to be wrapped up by the end of this year, with a ruling expected in January.
Two dealers decided to merge
– 2 office equipment, supply and office furniture companies in Northern Indiana have merged to form McShanes, Kramer & Leonard.
– Chip Miceli, Chairman of McShane’s, and a shareholder in both companies, made the announcement
– new company is the result of the recently-completed merger of McShane’s Business Products and Services, and Kramer & Leonard.
– McShane’s Business Products and Services is a 48-person firm, which opened in 1921 in Hammond, IN
– Dealer for Canon, Konica Minolta, Kip and Muratec
– Kramer & Leonard is a 22-person company serving the region since 1983 from Chesteron IN
Hon Hai names new leaders of Sharp
– will appoint three co-chief executive officers at the start of 2018 to lead Sharp alongside president and current sole CEO Tai Jeng-wu, according to article in the Japan Times newspaper
– The new co-CEOs, all chosen from within Sharp’s upper management, will be candidates to succeed Tai — who was dispatched by Taiwanese parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. last year to turn around the then-struggling Sharp
– each of the four will be responsible for a key business or region.
– Tai will retain oversight of the 8K ultra high-definition display business and the Southeast Asian market
– Executive Vice President Katsuaki Nomura, who presently holds the title of chief operating officer, will continue to head the corporate strategic planning division.
– Executive Vice President Yoshihisa Ishida will lead artificial intelligence-equipped appliances and the European market, while Executive Officer Toshiaki Takayama will be responsible for the Chinese market.
– Tai had set a rule that all expenses over $26,500 would require his personal signoff.
