The MFJ Transition

Most of the ham world has seen the MFJ shuttering domestic production announcement:
https://mailchi.mp/62e24f2ccc99/a-heavy-sad-heart

Some backstory about MFJ:
https://mfjenterprises.com/pages/the-story-of-mfj-enterprises-inc

Martin F. Jue, K5FLU was a friend of George W9EVT, and when I take George the Dayton Hamvention we usually had a meet & greet with Martin K5FLU.

I cannot say Martin would remember me beyond being George W9EVT’s buddy.  Nor have I used MFJ’s products much (neither did George W9EVT).

Some things I picked out is “domestic production”  phrase suggesting that MFJ will continue or will develop non-domestic production.

And that the company will remain open to sell from inventory and provide service.

There doesn’t seem to be a WARN notice for the MFJ change in business operation, suggesting either MFJ indirectly had products built rather than using direct employees, or was smaller than many hams thought.

In the ham circles some folks are saying the MFJ group of companies was offered for sale last year, but very quietly.  Knowledge of sales volume, profit margins and asking price also are not widely known.  Perhaps NDAs restricted the outflow of enough information to attract new blood?

There is no mention or rumors of a succession plan that failed to execute, so MFJ may have been more fragile (from a continuity aspect) than people understood?

My guess is that the MFJ story isn’t finished yet.  The announcement allows for a lot of wiggle room, and the efforts to keep the service center & brand as a whole in operation are more than the minimum required to satisfy warrant promises.

Selling from stored stock only goes so far, and pushes down the sale prices with buyers increasingly aware that they may be buying an orphaned product.  Reestablishing the surviving brand lines quickly will do the most to retain value for the eventual new folk and for Martin as the outgoing owner.  Running it dry until it stops provides a very low – and by definition “terminal” – payout for what has been built.

All that said I am unaware of much recent innovation my MFJ, and as the often purchased in product lines rather than develop them in house, I am not certain their engineering depth.  Several hams have suggested it was more than Martin who had become long in the tooth, as they suggested the other important MFJ employees were also elderly.

Other said that quietly Martin had approached those in the ham community he thought well heeled enough with a pitch to but all the MFJ brands for an undisclosed sum.  None were interested, though what parts put them off hasn’t been disclosed.

Some takeaways:

• Only the Domestic production is being shuttered.
• The buy-it-all package Martin hawked either was promoted to the wrong people or wasn’t sound from an economic or risk aspect.

Some ponderings:

• MFJ has been perhaps a place-in-time enterprise that moved towards innovation-by-acquisition over new products developed in-house.
• Indications like the lack of a WARN notice as production shuts down suggests the production team was smaller than most hams might have thought.
• The willingness to shutter domestic production doesn’t rule out outsourcing additional inventories.
• The willingness to damage the brands is significant, but the reasons why this is a prudent idea are ellusive.
• Limiting the company sales pitch to presumed likely candidates is a disconnect from the realities of marketing & selling a business.
• Much of the existing product lines are yesterday’s technology in yesterday’s packaging and offshore competitors provide alternatives at undercutting prices.
• Some of the product lines may have been “vanity catalogue listings” for a while, as hams claim product-x isn’t in stock and wouldn’t be until enough orders for a new batch we in hand.   On some of the expensive antenna products that appears to have been for some years.
• The all-of-the-brands or nothing packaging may reflect more about how many of the brands are marketing presences without any dedicated production/support resources to separately sell off.
• The various doom-sayers saying that MFJ failing to make a business succession transition spells immediate impending doom are saying this for our amusement, as they said the same when Heathkit folded, and RadioShack, and ETO Alpha Amps, and TenTec, and Collins withdrawing… chatter rather than wisdom it seems.

All in all an interesting change to the ham community, one that means next to nothing for me personally as I don’t use MFJ products in my stations and have no interest in becoming involved in a ham radio business where I am not an enthusiastic established customer.

73

Steve
K9ZW