Avnet

History

In 1921, Charles Avnet, a 33-year-old Russian immigrant, began buying surplus radio parts and selling them to the public on the Radio Rows of United States port cities. In the mid-1920s, when factory-made radios began to replace radio parts, Avnet adjusted his distribution pipeline and began selling parts to manufacturers and dealers. During the Great Depression, Avnet shifted the focus from retailing to wholesaling.

In the mid-1920s to the early 1930s, Avnet diversified by branching out into car radio kits and automobile assembly kits. During World War II, Avnet made antennas for the U.S. armed forces. His son, Lester Avnet, joined the business at that time.

Avnet was incorporated in 1955. In 1956, a second connector assembly plant was opened near Los Angeles for the aircraft industry. In 1959, the company went public on the American Stock Exchange. In the mid-1960s, the company briefly owned several record labels including Liberty Records and Blue Note. Over the next ten years, Avnet expanded with several acquisitions in the new fields of semiconductors, relays, and potentiometers.

CEO leaders since the 1970s for Avnet have included Tony Hamilton, Leon Machiz, Roy Vallee, Rick Hamada and William Amelio(current). Under Vallee the company acquired 60 companies and grew globally. The company relocated its corporate headquarters to Phoenix (from Great Neck, NY) in 1998.

In July 2010, the company purchased Bell Microelectronics for $631M, at the time the largest acquisition in the company's history. In Sept 2016, Tech Data purchased Avnet Technology Solutions for $2.6B.

Industry analysts say the key to Avnet's long-term success is its supply chain management solutions, which include forecasting component demand, distribution management, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and Just in Time delivery.

In October 2016, the company purchased Premier Farnell for $691M.