Harman To Acquire B&W, Denon, Polk And Marantz From Masimo In $350 Million Deal


just saw the above announcement--of particular note is that masimo paid over a billion for the same brands just a few years ago. not sure whether harman will add any value--they've neither hurt nor helped revel or arcam--or what this move indicates about the consumer audio market generally, but this doesn't bode well for the future.

loomisjohnson

I wondered if the quality of the mostly mid-fi brands would be affected when Masimo bought these brands several years ago and I saw little change except more of concentration on AVR and less on 2-channel. 

Harman has done a very good job supporting analogue film - so they have a positive track record in supporting niche interests.

Masimo's  diversification into audio was an unmitigated disaster - so they can hardly do worse.

All this sounds like a hostile take over….

Buy up more of the opposition and saturate/control competition and ultimately the market….then price out the smaller guys left. 
 

Greed, Greed and Greed, agreed?

mylogic

All this sounds like a hostile take over…

No, Masimo was a very motivated seller, and willing to take a sizeable loss to rid themselves of this unit. There was nothing hostile about it.

i sorta agree with @realgoodsound --polk, definitive, etc. may still be producing nice products, but query whether there's a real demand for so many brands. it's analogous to when gm used to sell identical sedans under buick/pontiac/olds/chevy (and sometimes cadillac) monikers--they wasted billions on promo costs, lot rentals, etc. there's gotta be some consolidation coming, which is smart business but also a little sad....