These Lighting Agents Made Headlines in 2025

Strategic deals reshape competitive dynamics in commercial lighting and controls

The lighting representation channel spent 2025 redrawing territorial boundaries, settling longstanding legal disputes, and navigating an increasingly consolidated market where scale matters more than ever. From Florida to Forest Park, from Manhattan to McKinney, agencies made strategic moves that reshaped competitive dynamics across North America's most lucrative lighting markets. Some expanded through acquisition. Others lost anchor lines they'd represented for decades. A few found themselves in federal court, litigating the messy aftermath of severed partnerships.

What emerges from the year's headlines is a portrait of an industry channel under pressure. The traditional independent rep model — built on local relationships and manufacturer loyalty — is giving way to something more complex: regional powerhouses seeking geographic scale, manufacturers consolidating their agent rosters, and a legal system increasingly called upon to arbitrate disputes that previous generations might have settled over handshakes. The question facing 2026 isn't whether this consolidation will continue. It's who will still be standing when it does.