News

The public auction of the assets of Wadia Digital Corporation has been postponed for at least two weeks, according to an employee of the Minneapolis law firm Siegel, Brill, Greupner, Duffy & Foster, P.A., which is handling the liquidation.

According to the employee, the sale is a "bulk auction—one lot, all or nothing" affair, intended to sell the company intact, despite implications in the original public notice (reproduced below) that individual finished goods might be available. No Wadia audio products are available, and interested audiophiles should not call the law firm, which was inundated with telephone calls after the notice appeared.

The sale of Wadia is not a bankruptcy, but the result of a move by the company's investors to call in their promissory notes. Wadia's Board of Directors had removed Stephen Jeffrey from his position as president several months ago. Phone calls to the River Falls, Wisconsin–based company are going unanswered.

Originally formed about 15 years ago by a group of investors around the inventions of a group of former 3M engineers, Wadia Digital's costly CD players were (and are) among the best on the market at any price. Like almost all high-end manufacturers in North America, Wadia depended to a large extent on the Asian market, and may have suffered from the economic crises that gripped that part of the world two years ago. The company management may also have stumbled with marketing and product development—refusing to trade on its esteemed name by producing more affordable players, and not embracing the home-theater boom as many of its competitors have done.

From the August 19 Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE Under Section 9-504 of the Minnesota Uniform Commercial Code and the Wisconsin Uniform Commercial Code and pursuant to a Security Agreement between Shared Ventures, Inc., 6550 York Avenue South, Suite 402, Edina, MN 55435, as creditor and Wadia Digital Corporation, 624 Troy Street, River Falls, WI 54022, as debtor, notice is hereby given that all repossessed collateral security generally described below will be sold at public sale on Monday, August 28, 2000 at 1:30 p.m. at the offices of the law firm of Siegel, Brill, Greupner, Duffy & Foster, P.A., 1300 Washington Square, 100 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401. Collateral to be sold includes all assets of Wadia Digital Corporation, including inventory related to the manufacture of audio equipment, office, audio and manufacturing equipment, intellectual and intangible property and other assorted items. Sale items may be viewed prior to sale by appointment - Call Lee at (715) 426-5900.

AUDIOPHILES PLEASE NOTE: There are no individual Wadia products for sale. The auction is for the company as a whole.