Irvine’s Vizio Inc., which designs and markets high-definition televisions, nearly doubled its TV sales in 2009, according to reports.
Vizio was the top seller of the liquid-crystal display TVs for the fourth quarter of 2009 and for the entire year, beating out household names such as Samsung Group, Royal Philips Electronics NV and Sony Corp., according to data from El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp.
Strong holiday sales helped Vizio ship some 1.8 million TVs in the U.S. during the fourth quarter and around 6 million for the year, iSuppli’s data showed.
For most of last year, Vizio had been running a tight race with South Korea’s Samsung.
During the third quarter, Samsung took the top spot from Vizio.
But Vizio, which counts about a 19% market share, trounced Samsung when it came to yearly totals.
Samsung sold 5.6 million TVs last year and had 18% of the market for LCD TVs in North America.
Vizio’s formula of selling TVs made in Asia for less than those of big-name rivals seems a good fit with the times.
It does the design work and product engineering locally, but outsources almost every other piece of the supply chain.
It’s a model that allows Vizio’s TVs to sell for $500 less than sets from Samsung, Philips, Sony, LG Group and others.
The company, which has around 150 workers here, is said to be eyeing an initial public offering in the next five years.
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