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Black Box Corporation

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Black Box Corporation
Company typePrivate
IndustryTechnology
FoundedLawrence, Pennsylvania
June 25, 1975[1]
Headquarters1000 Park Drive, Lawrence, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Sanjeev Verma
(CEO)
ProductsDigital Signage
KVM switches
Network Management
Network Security
Datacenter
WAN Optimization
Number of employees
4,300
Websitewww.blackbox.com

Black Box Corporation, also doing business as Black Box Network Services, is headquartered in the Pittsburgh suburb of Lawrence, Pennsylvania, United States. The company is a provider of communications products.

History

The company was founded as Expandor, Inc. by Eugene Yost and Richard "Dick" Raub,[2][3] and offered printer switches popularly called "black boxes".[4] It published a popular "Black Box Catalog"[5] which was the basis of changing its name to Black Box Corporation in 1982.

Another division, Interlan, sold local area network equipment.

After a slow-down in business in the mid-1980s and Black Monday of 1987, Odyssey Partners acquired the company in 1988, through a leveraged buyout. A proposed sale was met with a lawsuit, although the Interlan division was sold to Racal in 1989.[6][7] Black Box was re-organized in 1990 after losses from the debt servicing. Despite getting $5.5 million in fees for the deal, Drexel Burnham Lambert filed for its own bankruptcy the same year.[8] The no-action letter from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in June 1990 has been used as a legal precedent for similar cases.[9]

The profitable catalog sales business moved from Simi Valley in California to Lawrence, Pennsylvania and changed its name to Black Box Incorporated.[10][11]

The telecommunications product business was split out to a subsidiary called Micom Communications Corporation.[12][13] An initial public offering was made in December 1992 to cover the debt used to finance the 1990 deal (after two previous failed attempts), under the name MB Communications.[14]

In 1994, the Micom Communications unit was spun off, and acquired by Northern Telecom (Nortel) in June 1996.[15]

In January 2019, AGC Networks acquired Black Box Corporation, making Black Box a wholly owned subsidiary of AGC. Black Box continues to operate as a worldwide telecommunications provider independently.

References

  1. ^ https://www.corporations.state.pa.us/corp/soskb/Corp.asp?394208[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Eugene Yost, Obituary". December 13, 2006. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017.
  3. ^ "Vault Guide to Top Tech Employers (2009)". Archived from the original on 2017-12-01.
  4. ^ "Black Box Corporation". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  5. ^ "What does Rohm and Hass think about the Black Box Protocol Converter A/S-1?". Computerworld. November 24, 1980. p. 62. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  6. ^ "Interlan for Sale?". Computerworld. September 19, 1988. p. 102. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  7. ^ "Racal Interlan's president shares plans for the future". Computerworld. June 5, 1989. p. 9. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  8. ^ John Mederis (July 24, 1990). "Black Box Buyout Fails to Work Magic: Technology: The company loses $34 million on sales of $107 million despite layoffs". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  9. ^ "Securities Act Sections: Questions and Answers of General Applicability". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. September 22, 2016. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  10. ^ "Black Box Corporation History". Funding Universe. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  11. ^ "Form SC 13G/A". US SEC. February 14, 1994. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  12. ^ "Black Box Hopes to Raise $98 Million With Offerings". Los Angeles Times. July 17, 1990. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  13. ^ not to be confused with Micom Systems
  14. ^ James F. Peltz (December 8, 1992). "Micom in New Wall Street Bid : Stock: Computer interlink maker opens third attempt to sell securities to the public to reduce its debt burden". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  15. ^ "Schedule 13 D/A: Tender Offer Statement". June 17, 1996. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
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