For anyone who hasn't seen the VMail breaking news HVHC (the parent company of Davis Vision) is selling Viva to Marcolin (and a private equity firm), so they still have Visionworks and Davis Vision but they're getting out of frames. http://www.visionmonday.com/latest-n...ational-group/
Last edited by jpways; 10-24-2013 at 12:16 PM.
Wow.
Got phone call from Davis few(2 or 3 ??) weeks ago saying they will send box/shipping labels to us so we can send their frames back. They'll even pay us to dispose the display.
I have not yet receive any box/labels though.
Paul @ Silicon Valley California
don't get my hopes up here ...
"what i need is a strong drink and a peer group." ... Douglas Adams - Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
My guess is that reduction of outside sales for Viva since HVHC's acquistion has reached the point of marginal profitablity.
I wonder what other frame company that is affiliated with retail stores would be negatively impacted by independent ECP's refusing to buy their products?
Interesting, that they are cleaning house. It makes me wonder if they(Davis Vision) are looking to be acquired by Eyemed or VSP.
Starts wit L ends with AOriginally Posted by morinput
That would make sense. From what my manager says, they are upping the payment we get on exams so that they are the same as Davis. Interesting. It would be great if we could get rid of Davis. As much as I hate eyemed, I REALLY REALLY REALLY hate Davis. They send crap. Today I got an edged pair of Access lenses. (The order was for a complete pair of physios with a nine west frame). Awesome... An essilor lab could do much better. Actually, my 3 year old could do better.
From what I can gather after reading the Eyemed thread, we aren't going to get an upgrade in quality of work. Le sigh.
"Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened beings; only enlightened activity." -Shunryu Suzuki
Anything would be an upgrade from Davis. My dead dog could do better work than Davis.
Disagree. Spectera is using an Essilor lab that is much worse in EVERY aspect then Davis!
I love Davis visions customer service!
I strongly suspect many of us here would have no problem disposing said display OFFICE-SPACE style without need for any monetary compensation!
Damm it feels good to be a Gangsta....
I am surprised this thread died so quickly. With all of the vertical integration going on, I am surprised Highmark dumped Viva. It could be that they realized that you can get cheap frames anywhere and put them on a Visionworks or Davis rack and send them off to a Davis lab. Or maybe they have a long term deal with Marcolin for cheap frames. Regardless, this move seems counter to the vertical expansion trend.
Have you seen this?
http://alsblog.cleinman.com/2013/10/...a/#comment-625
I have to agree with Barry's comment to that article, I don't think any lawsuits for antitrust violations are forthcoming because you have to keep in mind that vertical integration is not illegal, the AO and B&L cases were charges of price fixing (I had to really search to come up with that answer). No matter how much we might dislike their business practices in relation to the industry, HVHC, Luxottica, and VSP are not monopolies in any one industries or even form a monopoly situation together (though I know arguments can be made against my last statement, but while I don't have the numbers, I don't think they make up the 80% of the market together that is generally used to define a monopoly or near monopoly situation). And we just have to look at the governments total lack of action towards Essilor to see how they feel about monopoly or near monopoly situations (and even price fixing) in the optical industry. Remember the last major FTC action against a company in the industry was Transitions and that was barely a slap on the wrist.
I personally think the reason they dropped Viva was to improve their profit margin, because I wouldn't be surprised to see them going public pretty soon.
Al has MANY interesting commentaries on his blog, thanks for the introduction! Highly recommended!
It's good stuff. I've seen him speak, and he's always got good things to say.
I was just reading up on Highmark which ultimately owns Davis/Viva/Vision Works. They are primarily an insurance company in PA, Delaware and West Virginia. They are making significant investments in buying up medical groups and in hospitals in Pennsylvania where they are based. They own a dental insurance company and a stop loss insurer. They also have a new CEO. Viva was an acquisition that appears to have been run separately from the mid atlantic highmark operations. It does not appear to really fit in with their core business (nor does Davis or Visionworks). I would not be surprised if they dump Davis and Visionworks next.
Also- Higmark is a non-profit. Not a candidate to go public.
Regarding the Al Cleinman blog, I would think VSP, Lux or Esillor would have been the targets of an FTC investigation as Davis/Viva is nowhere near the size or scope of these goliaths. However, I am sure Mr. Cleinman knows much more about this than I do.
While it is true that Highmark is not for profit, HVHC is a wholly owned for profit subsidiary (my source for this is the article about HVHC selling Viva). I don't remember enough from my business law and finance classes to know if HVHC would have to be spun off for it to be public or whether the corporate governance is already independent enough for them to go public, but it should be possible. Also, while Highmark is headquartered in Camp Hill, PA, when I look up HVHC's corporate profile I find that the headquarters are either in Camp Hill, PA or San Antonio, TX (where Davis Vision is now headquartered, even though customer service is still in Plainview, NY)
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