Fast-Growing ShopJimmy Buys St. Paul Distributor
ShopJimmy.com—a Burnsville-based distributor of television parts that has received national attention for its fast-paced growth—said Tuesday that it has acquired Ness Electronics, a St. Paul-based distributor of Digital Light Processing (DLP) lamps and electronics components.
Terms of the deal, which closed Monday, were not disclosed.
ShopJimmy.com said that the acquisition “significantly enhances” its inventory and market share, particularly in the Midwest; in addition to its St. Paul location, Ness Electronics has branches in Milwaukee and Des Moines, Iowa.
Ness Electronics was founded in 1964 and is led by Mike Ness. It is a leader in DLP lamps, which are backlight lamps that power television screens, and the company is also a certified distributor of television parts for several major consumer electronics brands, according to ShopJimmy.com.
“We couldn’t be happier about this deal,” ShopJimmy.com founder and CEO Jimmy Vosika said in a statement. “Mike Ness and Ness Electronics are so well respected in the industry and will bring decades of insight and experience to ShopJimmy. We’re also excited to continue their authority in DLP lamps distribution.”
ShopJimmy.com currently has 82 full-time employees and roughly 50 temporary workers, according to a company spokesman. Ness Electronics’ 22 St. Paul workers will join ShopJimmy.com’s new Burnsville headquarters; its remaining eight employees will retain their jobs at Ness Electronics’ two satellite offices.
Since its 2007 inception, ShopJimmy.com has grown quickly and has recently garnered attention in both regional and national media. In 2010, Vosika was named a winner of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Midwest region. In August, the company was recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the nation's 1,000 fastest-growing private companies.
In 2011, ShopJimmy.com’s revenue totaled $7.96 million, and it’s projecting 2012 revenue of more than $15.5 million, a company spokesman said. Last August, the company acquired an Illinois maker of TV and electronics parts.
