Doug and I have talked about this for a year or more. It has just made perfect sense from the standpoint of the technologies...... though not the sole consideration for these things, as you know. Only thing I haven't been able to figure out is why it took so long. If I was running either company, I'd be talking merger.
Doug tells me you'd get a kick out of this:
My brother in law runs a VC-fueled (well-fueled, BTW) startup, a kind of biotech, but not really. He acquired control of the patents about 10 years ago or so, and has been forging ahead ever since. He's the nicest, humblest guy you would ever want to meet. The kind of guy that if you can't get along with him, there's something seriously wrong with you.... or yer name is Bone-Bit$# ..... is dat redundant? <gggg> Anywho, they are coming online with an implantable digital hearing device, state of the art. Technologically and clinically better than anything else out there, nothing else close IMHO. He's become one of my patent consultants (always free and glad to help), cuz where I work we deal with such like. They are marketing in Europe right now, and I believe they'll be selling product very soon, maybe already.... then, South America and Japan, and last but hardly least, USA [time lag courtesy of molasses FDA process, thank you].
Company still private, will be for a few years. I keep buggin' him to gimme IPO shares at the offering price, with no lockup! He just smiles.... I think they will do very, very well over the next 5 or 10 years, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. I am very happy for him and my sister both. Restores my sometimes shaky faith in the forces runnin' this gig!!
Cheers,
Terry |
