HARMON SOLD !

This is a really interesting move..especially since it a buy by an Equity.

That means the future of this industry must be much better that many claim it to be .

True, Arj.

The price is also quite substantial.... and the buyer is not Chinese !

hmmm....

Interesting.....very interesting.....
thanks for the info.

Manek.

other than its brands, i believe Harmon has interesting IPR/KNowledge assets.

will not be surprised if some of the Chinese players make a bid..even if it is as a group.

And the current owner can allways break up the asset and sell it to different bidders.

8B USD is a lot of Money

Can you believe it??? what an empire Sidney Harmon built over the years!!!!

sold for $8B! WOW!!!
These equity firms are on a tear these days gobbling up companies like there is no tomorrow!

That brand list is quite something - AKG headphones: people covet that brand.
Back in the good old days, Infinity (when Arnie Nuddel used to be there) made some excellent speakers. I still have a pair. These days Arnie Nuddel is at this other founded company Genesis speakers. I believe that he left that company too out of frustration!
One other brand that Harmon Int'l had was the French speaker driver company Audax. The woofers in my ref speakers are from Audax. Superb 10" woofers. However, if I blow them, the manuf informs me, that he cannot replace them anymore because once Harmon bought out Audax, Harmon forced them to stop selling to the OEM market! Bastards!!!

Restricting sales to In-house production is Unfortunately gaining...

Im told TEAC wont sell their VDRS laser assembly outside anymore.

Wadia has been forced to use a new Korean laser assembly.

A pal very well informed in watches says talks of similar withholding on Watch movements..

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Restricting sales to In-house production is Unfortunately gaining...

yes, I think that u r correct! not a good sign overall from 1 perspective because all manuf will be forced to re-invent the wheel & this will drive up cost for all of us. I can see why this is happening with the advent of global competition where manuf who have invested a lot of R&D into something find that their edge is disappearing very rapidly & that people are back-engineering their IP.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Im told TEAC wont sell their VDRS laser assembly outside anymore. Wadia has been forced to use a new Korean laser assembly.

very true! The Wadia 581/581i uses a Korean drive.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

A pal very well informed in watches says talks of similar withholding on Watch movements.. :(

look up! there goes the price of that Patek Phillipe I wanted to buy!!

Harmon sold!

That's sad.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., if I recall right, is a big acquisition, merger company. Has a reputation for squeezing the profits out of successful companies, draining them, and reselling them. Euphamistically, it's called consolidating investor holdings!

It will be extremely sad if one of the most successful pro-sound companies is left to languish like this!

Viren.

bombaywalla schrieb:

C One other brand that Harmon Int'l had was the French speaker driver company Audax. The woofers in my ref speakers are from Audax. Superb 10" woofers. However, if I blow them, the manuf informs me, that he cannot replace them anymore because once Harmon bought out Audax, Harmon forced them to stop selling to the OEM market! Bastards!!! :L

I know..my speakers have these too am very worried about them blowing away !