Yesco and Samsung Saga: What You Need to Know

Making Sense of Acquisitions is Usually Tough

After constantly seeing Yesco winning display and sign bids in the SLED market (dominating) we were interested to see the take by a critical ex-employee impacted by the Samsung buyout. We are not the quintessential digital sign insiders, so our analysis is decidedly a bit different. For us and business, its revenues. Entropy — getting bigger or getting smaller. We are more opinionated with buyouts like Zebra buying Elotouch, for example. That was one mispresented and misrepresented as a big kiosk deal when in fact it is Zebra filling a few hardware holes before it takes on NCR in the SCO world, and the big prize, Walmart.

We tried to be objective with Yesco and Samsung, though generally, we are never praised by Samsung for our critical point of view. No matter. Seeing both sides is necessary.

Quick take? It looks promising for Utah, and it appears that Samsung may be disappointed and might now exit that business segment. Smart decision by Yesco. Tough for the US, much less the Koreans, to beat the Chinese at LED manufacturing. YESCO looks pretty smart overall. Samsung overthinks and has 10X the meetings it needs to have, and the wrong kind of meetings.

Bottom Line — YESCO, the sign division, has prospered quite well since the buyout. $300 million in revenue instead of $100 million. No loss of employees, in fact, more. Samsung will modify things with the LED portion. I wouldn’t underestimate Samsung’s capability. Big companies move a bit slower, for sure. Ex-employees can have their point of view and are free to express it.

Data

Samsung purchased the LED division (YESCO Electronics).
Sign division untouched
Samsung LED module manufacturing moved from China to Tijuana
300 employees still at Prism in Utah (200 lost with LED move to Mexico?)
2020 take by Samsung on Prismview — https://insights.samsung.com/2020/10/06/rooted-in-history-keen-on-the-future-the-prismview-story
2024 revenue for Prismview — reported around $60M
Revenue for Young Electric Sign Company in 2020 — $320M
In 2014 prior — Young Electric Overall $364M with Electronics value $100M
Comparison Table

Division 2014 Estimate 2024 Estimate

YESCO (sign/service) $200–$264 million ~$318.6 million

YESCO Electronics ~$100 million ~$60.7 million (as Prismview)

By 2024, total revenue for YESCO’s sign and service business remained strong and comparable to 2014 levels, but the former electronics division saw a notable decrease (from ~$100 million in 2014 to ~$61 million in 2024 as Prismview).

Division	2014 Estimate	2024 Estimate
YESCO (sign/service)	$200–$264 million	~$318.6 million
YESCO Electronics	~$100 million	~$60.7 million (as Prismview)

Excerpt from Samsung 2020

YESCO Electronics was established in the early 1990s with one aim: to sell electronic signs to casinos and other businesses on the Las Vegas Strip. With under 10 employees, the department had to be scrappy to stay alive.

“We’re small-town people,” says Blake Gover, a legacy engineer from the YESCO Electronics days and current technology consultant at Prismview. “But we were always hard-working, and very determined.”

The division’s fate came to a crossroads: YESCO Electronics executives weren’t convinced that it could thrive and compete. In 1994, a monumental decision was made: YESCO Electronics would double down on its mission to design, manufacture and install high-quality signs.

LinkedIn Writeup (sour grapes)

In 2015, Samsung Electronics America purchased Yesco Electronics, an LED display manufacturer located in Logan, Utah. Yesco had experienced phenomenal growth in previous years with sales approaching $100 million in 2014. Ostensibly, Samsung purchased Yesco in order to gain a foothold in the outdoor LED business. Yesco had a tremendous amount of experience, having innovated, designed and installed thousands of electronic billboards across the country. Yesco had also delivered significant projects in many professional sports venues and iconic spectacular displays on Times Square. Yesco had growing pains like any large company, but the promise of Samsung being able to steady the ship and infuse much needed resources into product development was very promising.

Within the first year, it became evident to all of those who worked for Yesco, that Samsung had different ideas. Rather than adding to Yesco’s years of experience in design and product development, Samsung instead began to reject Yesco’s product focus and push in a completely different direction. Yesco was (and still is) a leader in the sign industry. Yesco had always been a custom display manufacturer and built their products in the largest segments possible. This allowed them to ship and assemble large displays onsite with a minimum of onsite labor required. Samsung no longer wanted to do anything that required any special design or handling of large display segments. Like all of the Chinese-designed products, Samsung wanted to pivot to a modular, building block cabinet concept. The problem was that Yesco’s internal product design did not align well with the design concept. Rather than accepting this as a reality, Samsung tried to force the Yesco design into modular cabinets. It just didn’t work. Eventually, Samsung decided to abandon custom designs, including the outdoor billboard industry completely, leaving that part of the business to competitors Daktronics and Watchfire.

The last major project to be produced at the Logan manufacturing plant was the very visible Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles. It was a monumental achievement and widely acclaimed as one of the most impressive LED displays in the sports world. Soon after that project was complete, Samsung shut down the Logan manufacturing facility, laid off most of the employees and moved all manufacturing to Mexico. At one time, Logan had over 500 employees and was operating 24/7 to meet the business’s demands. Almost overnight, it was all gone. It took Samsung only five years to completely destroy this once-thriving business.

Part 2.

After Sofi, Samsung continued to make one bad decision after another. A complete redesign to a modular cabinet design using only Samsung engineering designs was a mild success, but still wasn’t well received by end users or consultants, primarily because of high costs. Most recently, Samsung attempted to use rebranded Chinese-made products in their projects. This product was also rejected by consultants as not meeting standards of the industry. Slowly, many of the remaining long-time employees were laid off, including myself. Yesterday, the final nail was driven into the coffin for Samsung outdoor LED. Over 30 highly qualified sales team members, managers, project managers, designers, installers and A/V professionals were laid off with the announcement that Samsung will no longer pursue the outdoor LED business. It’s a sad day for me and for all of my former co-workers who were dedicated employees and worked so hard for so many years to make Samsung successful, in spite of their self-imposed ignorance.

Part 3.

From my perspective, managerial incompetence and a failure to listen to their valued employees is the primary reason for Samsung’s failure in this arena. There are still a few employees left working for Samsung who will continue to try to clean up the mess caused by the overlords. They will have a monumental task trying to keep their customers happy in a horrible, no-win scenario. For most of us, this is personal and much like a death. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Has Samsung Stumbled in LED space?

Yes, Samsung has notably stumbled in the LED business in recent years. As of late 2024, Samsung announced it would be exiting the mainstream LED market due to falling profitability, fierce competition from lower-cost Chinese competitors, rising production costs, and strategic shifts toward other technologies such as power semiconductors and micro-LEDs.trendforce+4

Key Issues Leading to Samsung’s Decline in LEDs

Samsung’s LED business suffered from aggressive price competition, especially from Chinese manufacturers, eroding profit margins and global market position.reddit+1
The company’s LED division could not maintain its competitive edge, despite annual sales reaching several billion yuan; it contributed too little to Samsung’s overall financial performance to remain viable.semiconductor-today+1
Production costs for LEDs rose steadily, and the market matured with declining growth rates, prompting Samsung to redirect investments.lightnowblog+1
Samsung confirmed phased withdrawal from LED chip manufacture, TV LED backlights, and automotive LEDs, aiming for completion by 2030.electronicsforyou+1
Most employees from the LED division are being reassigned to Samsung’s semiconductor, micro-LED, memory, and foundry businesses.compoundsemiconductor+1

Strategic Outcome

Samsung is exiting traditional LED production and focusing on more promising areas, such as power semiconductors and micro-LED displays.semiconductor-today+1

Samsung’s mainstream LED efforts have failed to meet expectations, leading to a strategic exit and a refocusing on advanced technologies and more profitable sectors.echemi+4

Comments

Dave Haynes — The once mighty YESCO – a major player in outdoor LED in the early years of the US industry – is now a shadow of old self after it was sold and assimilated into Samsung.

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Explaining Yesco and Samsung

Making Sense of Acquisitions is Usually Tough

Comparison Table

Excerpt from Samsung 2020

Has Samsung Stumbled in LED space?

Key Issues Leading to Samsung’s Decline in LEDs

Strategic Outcome

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