EdisonReport can confirm that Universal Douglas closed its doors. This morning employees showed up to work at the Nashville location and were told of the immediate closure. Remote employees were notified as well, then most of the IT was shut down. Both Universal, and the more profitable Douglas (controls), are closed.
Here is what we know now from various sources:
- All locations have been shut down, including factories, as well as the Douglas engineering office in Burbandy, BC.
- A handful of employees will remain employed for an indefinite amount of time to properly close the business.
- Paul Tudor is the existing CEO, but an executive will be brought in to manage the closure. It is not known if Paul will participate in the closing.
- One employee said he went home on Tuesday evening and everything was business as usual.
- Another source believes that the abrupt closure had something to do with an issue between Atar Capital and Universal’s bank. Atar Capital purchased Universal from Panasonic, a story that EdisonReport broke in March of 2021. Atar is headquartered in Los Angeles. One longtime EdisonReport source thinks it may be related to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. We are looking into that now, but we understand that those depositors were made whole.
- Employees were notified this morning; agents and customers are being notified this afternoon.
Like many companies, Universal Douglas was harmed significantly by the pandemic. They found themselves paying $30,000 to ship containers from China and then many jobs were delayed, rebid, or simply disappeared, leaving Universal with a very expensive inventory.
In spite of the abrupt closure, Universal Douglas is still a strong brand, and we would expect someone to pick up the assets.
A former employee texted me at 7:30 EST to say that “It is a very sad day.”
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