Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wang built a Linux-based smart TV prototype with apps in 1998
“I actually had a whole design lab. We laid out a board. We found a software company in Boston to do, to Linux-based software for us. I found the chip supplier. Put a CPU in the TV and connect it to the internet. And when you turn on that TV, first page was app…”
Insight
Wang slashed TV prices using vertical de-integration and Taiwanese manufacturing
“I found the right factory in Taiwan. They can build a lot cheaper than, at the time, the labor costs in Japan. And, the components are all the same. At the same time, we've, we're vertically deintegrated, I use that efficiency, and we pass the saving to the co…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wang: Sony and Panasonic avoided Costco to protect Best Buy and Circuit City
“People like Sony and Panasonic, and they don't want to deal with Costco. They give Costco the leftovers because it's, ah, they want to protect their existing dealership with Circuit City and Best Buy.”
Disclosure
Wang: Costco bought Vizio TVs for $2,400 and sold them for $2,500
“They were, they would buy like 2400, sell it for 2500 dollars.”
Assertion Supported
Wang: Vizio built the first Wi-Fi TV using Yahoo's operating system
“We had the first Wi-Fi TV, and we had the first TV with a little keyboard, right? So you can browse the web. And back then with T-Lab was Yahoo, and they built the first operating system for TV for us.”
Assertion Partly supported
Vizio generated over $700M in media platform revenue last year
“We built a platform that, you know, last year we did over seven hundred million dollars in media.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wang: Gateway accounted for 70% to 80% of Mag InnoVision monitor sales
“Yeah, I would say 70, 80%.”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Wang: Mag InnoVision held $25M to $30M in debt at sale
“I think we had 25, thirty million dollars of debts.”
Disclosure
Wang: Gateway paid him 2% revenue plus $20K monthly for TVs
“So later on, they say, okay, in that case, it's we'll pay you two percent of all the revenue you help us generate on TV. And on top of that, we'll pay you 20,000 dollar a month.”
Disclosure
Wang: Vizio was launched with a $400,000 second home mortgage
“My own money started from my second mortgage in my house, 400,000 dollars to fund my business.”
Assertion Contradicted
Wang: Costco had no market share for TVs around 2004-2005
“Around, I think, 2004, 2005, I used to sell computer monitor at Costco, so I know the people a little bit. I had a connection there, so at the time, Costco had no market share for TVs.”
Assertion Supported
Wang: Costco's break-even margin was around 9.5% during Vizio's launch
“At that time their break even is around nine and a half percent. And they don't want to make money on merchandising anyway. They just want to make money on membership fee, right?”
Assertion Supported
Wang: Circuit City required a 25% margin to break even
“You got Circuit City require, what, 25% to break even.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wang: Mag InnoVision launched with $350k raised from suppliers, Tatung, and family
“They say, oh yeah, if you do this, I gave you a 150,000 dollars. So you gave me a 150,000 dollars, so I went to my dad, and I put together 50,000 dollars. Like, some of them from my dad, some of them from my own saving after four years of working. Then After, …”
