Image Credit: QSC, LLC
In a major announcement on October 24th, QSC, LLC announced that they had reached an agreement to be acquired by industrial technology firm Acuity Brands. Since 2009, Acuity Brands has been aggregating AV companies via acquisition, acquiring a new company nearly every year, but halting in 2021. In a busy year of major acquisitions and consolidations, the acquisition of QSC stands out to be one of, if not the largest acquisition announcements made thus far.
What is QSC Doing for Acuity?
QSC is slated to become part of Acuity’s Intelligent Spaces Group, working to integrate into operations that utilize data to improve spaces via AV technology. “Bringing QSC together with Acuity underscores the critical role AV technology plays in live, hybrid, and virtual experiences,” said Joe Pham, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of QSC. “Our two organizations are aligned on a long-term mission and core values that drive our mutual passion for innovation, customer satisfaction, and employee well-being.”
CEO and Chairman of QSC, LLC, Joe Pham, recently gave a keynote speech at InfoComm 2024
Pro AV Industry Shifts
QSC's product portfolio spans a wide breadth, with solutions that cover almost every, if not every major focus area of pro AV. The company has long been a staple of the pro AV industry, including training modules that have been a regular recommendation by AV professionals. Most notably, QSC also develops and maintains Q-SYS Designer, a free and nearly ubiquitous Digital Signal Processor (DSP) software that many AV professionals have used and learned in their careers.
Business leaders seek to sustain their operations, and acquisition is seen as a valid strategy in order to retain customers and employees. As far as its acquisition portfolio goes, QSC likely represents the largest acquisition Acuity has made to date. Whether it's a proactive or reactive strategy, acquisition could be seen as a pragmatic move in a time still feeling the brunt of austerity. While US Federal interest rates have begun their decline, it has nonetheless still been a tough year for technology-centric businesses, pro AV companies included. As recently as July, layoffs have continued to impact the pro AV industry, echoing tech's overall struggles.
The Future of Pro AV Companies
The lines across industries have blurred over time, in terms of the tech industry. As pro AV becomes more intertwined with IT (the "convergence", as they say), consolidation is expected as companies seek to expand an ever-holistic portfolio. In a similar manner to the consolidation of the tech industry, we may see the standard of "interoperability" to resemble products across differing internal groups, instead of interfacing with entirely different companies.
One thing that seems to be a consistent observation in the pro AV community: Companies seem to no longer believe that internal research and development is a viable opportunity, from a financial perspective. Certainly, the consistent rate of acquisitions year-over-year supports this observation, so, we're left to wonder: Will we continue to see acquisitions going forward, and what does that mean for the state of the industry?
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