Local Tech Firm Sonic Foundry’s Annual Meeting

Andrew Wallmeyer summarizes Sonic Foundry’s current state of affairs and provides a useful bit of history in terms of their stock mania and subsequent losses. The tech business can be brutal. We’ll see how SF navigates these waters.

“When you look at the number of tech companies that didn’t make it when the bubble burst, it’s truly amazing that this company was able to get it under control and survive that period,” he said. “The carnage was so absolute.”

If some of this smacks of boosterism, that’s because it is. Aside from their personal financial interest, many of the stockholders at the meeting said they root for Sonic Foundry because they want to see a local company succeed.

“I’ve been up and I’ve been down with the company,” said Hughes, who once watched his Sonic Foundry holdings fall from $100,000 to $1,000. “But it’s nice to be in a Madison company, being from Madison.”

GM’s Troubles Ripple Locally: Tower Automotive

Thomas Content discusses Milwaukee auto parts supplier Tower Automotive’s ongoing layoffs. Tower will have less than 200 employeees next week. Tower supplies steel car and truck frames to the domestic auto manufacturers. Content’s article arrives the same week as GM’s announcement that they were talking with Toyota about hybrid components. Sadly, these increasingly popular parts will likely come from Toyota’s network, rather than domestic sources…