Avnet, Inc. is a distributor of electronic components headquartered in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

, named after

Charles Avnet Charles Avnet (1888–1979) was an American businessman who founded electronics parts distributor Avnet. Biography Avnet was born to a Jewish family in 1888 in Russia.Radio Row Radio Row is a nickname for an urban street or district specializing in the sale of radio and electronic equipment and parts. Radio Rows arose in many cities with the 1920s rise of broadcasting and declined after the middle of the 20th century ...

, the company became incorporated in 1955 and began trading on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

in 1961. On May 8, 2018, Avnet changed stock markets to Nasdaq, trading under the same ticker AVT.

History

19201930

In 1921,

Radio Row Radio Row is a nickname for an urban street or district specializing in the sale of radio and electronic equipment and parts. Radio Rows arose in many cities with the 1920s rise of broadcasting and declined after the middle of the 20th century ...

s of United States port cities. As radio manufacturing grew, parts distribution took off. In the mid-1920s, when factory-made radios began to replace radio parts, he adjusted his distribution pipeline and began selling parts to manufacturers and dealers. In the mid-1920s, Avnet diversified by branching out into car radio kits and automobile assembly kits. During the Great Depression, he shifted the focus from retailing to wholesaling.

19301940

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Avnet made antennas for the U.S. armed forces. Charles's son, Lester, joined the business at that time. After the war was over, Avnet focused on buying and selling surplus electronic and electrical parts.

19501960

In 1955, Avnet Electronic Supply Company was incorporated with a primary business of selling capacitors, fasteners and switches. In 1956, the corporation opened a second connector assembly plant near

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

specifically for the aircraft industry. Three years after it incorporated, the company changed its name to Avnet Electronics Corporation, and went public on the

American Stock Exchange NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was know ...

the following year.

19601970

In 1960, Avnet made its first acquisition, British Industries Corp., an audio equipment company. With this acquisition, it began selling die casting machines, guitars, and television antennas, and earned a spot trading on the

. In the mid-1960s, the company briefly owned several record labels including Liberty Records and

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

. Avnet acquired guitar manufacturer Guild Musical Instruments in 1965; in that year a Guild Starfire 12 guitar was presented to Beatles legends

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and George Harrison. Over the course of the decade (from 1960 to 1970), Avnet expanded with several acquisitions, as shown in the following illustration: These acquisitions expanded the company into the new fields of semiconductors, relays, and potentiometers. In 1964, the company renamed itself again as Avnet, Incorporated. Founder Charles Avnet died that same year, and his son Lester became president and chairman.

19701980

In 1973, Avnet became Intel Corp.'s first distributor, solidifying Avnet's place in the computer business. Together, Avnet and supplier Intel began selling computer peripherals, complete systems, and software. In 1979, Avnet hit $1 billion in revenue for the first time. In 1979, Lester Avnet died and was succeeded by Simon Sheib as chief executive officer. Sheib, along with Anthony Hamilton, president of the Hamilton Electro Corporation acquisition, combined the two companies to form Hamilton/Avnet, which eventually became Avnet Electronic Marketing Group, led by Hamilton. The combine shifted its strategy during this time to focus on sales, warehouse and stocking facilities, product development, and expanding markets, and became the first distributor of

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...

s, integrated circuits, and

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circ ...

19802000

In 1998, Roy Vallee entered as CEO and chairman, the same year that the company relocated its corporate headquarters to Phoenix (from Great Neck, NY).

2010present

In July 2010, the company purchased Bell Microelectronics for $631 million. In July 2011, CEO Roy Vallee retired, and then-COO Richard Hamada was appointed CEO. In March 2012 Avnet, Inc. acquired Ascendant Technologies and in October 2012, BrightStar Partners, Inc. and BSP Software LLC. This was done to expand Avnet Technology Solutions. In September 2016,

Tech Data Tech Data Corporation (commonly referred to as Tech Data) was an American multinational distribution company specializing in IT products and services headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. It merged with competitor Synnex to form TD Synnex. Sy ...

announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire the Technology Solutions operating group from Avnet, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately US$2.6 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Avnet received at closing approximately $2.4 billion in cash and 2.785 million shares of Tech Data common stock, representing an approximate 7 percent ownership position in Tech Data. In October 2016, the company purchased British components distributor

Premier Farnell Premier Farnell Ltd is a distributor of products for electronic system design, maintenance and repair throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, with operations in 36 countries and trading in over 100. In October 2016, the firm was purc ...

for £691M. In March 2019, Avnet announced that it was working with blockchain payment provider

BitPay BitPay is a bitcoin payment service provider headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in May 2011 by Tony Gallippi and Stephen Pair. BitPay provides Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash payment processing services for merchants. ...

to accept cryptocurrency as payment for products and services. Avnet stated that it had already closed "several multi-million dollar cryptocurrency transactions" in the first month of accepting Bitcoin.

Leadership history

Chief Executive Officers since the 1970s for Avnet have included: * Tony Hamilton * Leon Machiz * Roy Vallee * Rick Hamada * William Amelio * Phil Gallagher

Notes

External links

* {{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Nasdaq Electronic component distributors American companies established in 1921 Business services companies established in 1921 Companies based in Phoenix, Arizona Distribution companies of the United States 1921 establishments in New York City 1960s initial public offerings