Thing is, I know the following as a fact because I was directly involved in it.
Back some years ago, I manufactured some "products" that used the following
tubes; 8908, M-2057, 8950, and 6LB6. GE in Owensboro, Kentucky was the
manufacturer of these and the last receiving tube manufacturer. They were still
getting plenty of orders on a bunch of different tubes. GE though decided to
put the tube plant up for sale and old Eddie slipped in and bought up the
majority of the stock. At this time, receiving tube prices were low and normal.
I was going to place an order for 1200-1500 M-2057's and called CeCo which was
a company owned by Richardson. There, they told me point blank that since
Richardson bought the plant, all receiving tube manufacturing would cease and
desist. Also that if I bought, they would be no more after this. I had a friend
who was a manager and engineer at the GE plant. I gave him a call and offered
to buy the tube lines for the above tubes. I was told, they cou
ld not sell them, by Richardsons order and the equipment would be put in
mothballs and most likely rust away! Now what did this do? The price of
receiving tubes almost doubled overnight and have gone up sharply ever since.
GE's, now MPD, employees just bought back the company not too long back. If you
ever read their info about it, they name Richardson as an un-disclosed buyer
when this all happened. Anyhow, I think it was done to monopolize the receiving
tube industry somewhat plus raise the prices very quickly on their stock tubes.
By the way, when Richardson bought the GE plant, they went around to every
other manufacturer who used to make them or who GE private labeled for like
Westinghouse and even RCA and bought any remaining stocks. I got into a bidding
war with Richardson and RCA over a bunch of 6LB6's still NOS at RCA.
Sylvania/Phillips sold out their remaining inventories along with about all the
others. Westinghouse ceased entirely because they had GE make every t
ube. Westinghouses primary distributor was Elmira Electronics and they told me
what was happening at the same time. Now if there wasn't some crooked dealings
going on here, I dont know what else you would call them. I think that's called
manipulating the market.
Best,
Will
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 4/13/05 at 10:28 AM John T. M. Lyles wrote:
>It always amazes me how unprofessional some folks are on email, with
>direct attacks and libelous statements. While I certainly understand
>the dislike for monopolistic practices, and big companies which move
>in an run off the small firms (can you say Walmart?) the firm in
>question below (Richardson Electronics) is one of the few companies
>in the US with the guts and money to buy up the remaining failing
>tube companies which would otherwise be totally obsolete. (for
>example, Amperex, some Philips parts, GE/National ignitrons, and a
>bunch of solid state RF designs). We depend on them to keep supplying
>these parts, for older sytems. Also, as a major distributor of
>capacitors such as the German Draloric brand, big R has them in stock
>in some cases. Most companies cannot afford to keep the inventory
>that R does. If you can't use their services, then don't bother
>attacking them.
>
>The Eimac-Varian case was at many years ago, past history. The second
>posting below makes no sense at all.
>
>>As I understand it, Eddie's monopoly-deal with Eimac-Varian resulted in
>>the DoJ making him an offer he could not refuse. IMO, there is much
>>truth in Randy Newman's song "Short People".
>
>>However, to his great credit, Eddie is an employer of those
>>misfortunate young women who would otherwise probably be unemployed -
>>and, sadly, perhaps even homeless - because they are so attractive that
>>other employers would reject them out of fear that they would be
>>disruptive in the workplace.
>>Congrats on doin' the right thing, Eddie.
>
>
>73
>John
>K5PRO
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