Daily Marauder

TECHNOLOGY

Circuit City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its more than 100,000 creditors today, but gave no indication as to the company’s future other than that it expects to continue to operate during the proceedings. The second-largest CE retailer in the U.S. suffered from a tighter credit market, and a downturn in consumer spending on big-ticket items as well as losing market share to rival Best Buy and discounters such as Wal-Mart. The Wall Street Journal (11/10) , Reuters (11/10)

Panasonic is set to become an even bigger giant in consumer electronics agreeing to buy smaller rival Sanyo Electric for a projected $4.5 billion. Sanyo, purchased by Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking in 2006 for $2.5 billion, is valued for its expertise in rechargeable batteries and solar panels – two of the biggest growth areas in the electronics industry. (Cynopsis 11/10)

Pioneer late last week introduced the LX01BD, a home-theater system that features a Profile 1.1 Blu-ray disc player and 1080p resolution. Available in the U.K. this week, the LX01BD is compatible with the latest DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD surround-sound formats. Electronista (11/7