I have been in the industry for 25 years and something new just started recently. Private equity firms are buying copier dealerships. Not just one or two but 5 different ones in the US. I started my career at IKON many years ago and as the company started to come together as a company I recognized we were in trouble. At the time I thought HP would buy it but as you know Ricoh purchased it. Probably the single most important move in my lifetime. What if there was another event like that right around the corner? What if HP has guided these investment companies with the intent to take over the entire channel? If there was a package deal that sold all of those investments in one transaction HP could significantly shift the marketplace. Oh and Xerox stock is one of the best performing tech stocks this year. Canon also bought the largest Canon dealer in England. There is something going on around here...what it is ..not exactly clear.
What do you think?
