Vizio founder William Wang contrasts the high operating overhead of Circuit City with Costco's low-margin efficiency.
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.”