Recently, Samsung announced the acquisition of Harman International Industries (hereinafter referred to as "Harman Group") for 8 billion US dollars. Harman owns a number of well-known audio brands, including Harman Kardon, JBL, AKG, etc. It can be said that it is an audio kingdom. In fact, in the history of Harman, I have experienced many acquisitions and acquisitions, which has made the great empire.
Harman's predecessor - Harman Kardon
Many people know that Harman Kardon is a brand of the Harman Group. Therefore, it is customary to think that there is Harman Kardon after Harman, but this is not the case.
Sidney Harman
In 1953, Harman's two founders, Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon, were keenly aware of the market potential of the radio, so the two co-founded a company. The company uses the two surnames as Harman Kardon and the Chinese name Harman Kardon. Therefore, there is Harman Kardon first, followed by Harman.
The Harman Group was founded in 1978 and was still founded by Sidney Harman. An episode occurred during the period, prompting Sidney to set up a new company, Harman International. That's about starting with Sidney's abandonment of business.
In 1976, Jimmy Carter, supported by Sidney, became the 39th president of the United States and invited Sidney to serve as the US Deputy Secretary of Commerce. At the time, Sidney became famous for implementing the “Quality of Working Life†management system in the factory and became a classic case of major management schools in the United States.
Standing on the right side of Jimmy Carter is swearing, Sidney
However, US law stipulates that politicians are not allowed to do business, so the new US President Trump is also handing over the company to his children, who are all the same. Since Sidney decided to go to politics, he could only sell the company. He found the food giant Beatrice Foods, which was sold for $100 million (the $100 million at that time was worth the money). As for why it is a food, I don’t know...
In short, Harman Kardon is in the hands of this Beatrice Foods. Harman Kardon abandoned the idea of ​​making high-quality HiFi products and sold the original department. By the time Sidney returned to the business world in 1978, Harman Kardon’s assets were only 60% of the year.
So Sidney once again set up Harman International and spent two years buying back the remaining Harman Kardon shares from Beatrice Foods. The repurchase price is only $55 million, which is close to half of the current year. However, Harman Kardon at this time was not complete. Its original radio department was sold to Japan's New White Sand Electric Co., Ltd. by Beatrice Foods. Sidney believes that the radio department is the heart of Harman Kardon and must be bought back. Then he spent another five years getting the Harman Kardon radio department from the Japanese, and Harman Kardon returned to the state of 1976.
Since then, Harman’s turnover has grown by leaps and bounds. In 1981, the annual sales were 80 million US dollars. By 1986, it had grown to 200 million US dollars, and in 1989 it exceeded 500 million US dollars.
Huge ambition - worldwide acquisitionHarman’s acquisition history dates back to 1969, when Harman acquired JBL, and JBL was just founded 20 years ago. JBL has made a big breakthrough in Harman's hands. In 1977, JBL's monitor speakers became the first choice for most studios, and JBL gained a foothold in the professional field.
In the 1980s, Harman returned to the development track and began to focus on more professional audio manufacturers. Part of the reason is also that in 1986 Harman was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1988, Harman acquired Soundcraft, a British manufacturer of mixers.
In 1990, he acquired the guitar effect maker DigiTech.
In 1993, the company acquired digital audio processing vendor Lexicon.
In 1994, it acquired the Swiss mixer manufacturer Studer, the famous headset and microphone manufacturer AKG and its subsidiary dbx.
In the 1990s, Harman already owned a number of consumer electronics brands such as JBL, Harman Kardon, Infinity and Epicure Loudspeakers, as well as professional audio brands such as JBL Professional, UREI, Soundcraft, Allen & Heath, dbx, Studer, DOD, Lexicon, AKG, BSS, Orban, Quested, and Turbosound (now sold to the Music Group).
SoundSTIcks III crystal sound produced by Harman Kardon
After entering the new century, Harman also acquired Japan's Crown Audio, MWM AcousTIcs, AMX LLC, and even lighting manufacturer MarTIn Professional.
In recent years, Harman has begun to turn his attention to the automotive sector, including the acquisition of Bang & Olufsen's car audio business in 2015, with a purchase value of $156 million and the acquisition of auto network security company ToweSec in March this year. These acquisitions mean that Harman is gradually developing in new areas of demand.
Harman Kardon's car audio system
Join Samsung - help the car businessThese years of hard work in the automotive sector may be the biggest reason why Samsung is willing to buy at a high price of 8 billion US dollars. $8 billion, which is higher than Harman’s estimated $6.91 billion in sales in fiscal 2016. Now that the traditional audio field has come to the fore, it is easy to understand Samsung's focus on the more promising car audio business, and they are not interested in traditional audio brands. With Harman's influence in the global market, it is Samsung's intention to reinvigorate its own consumer electronics business.
Sidney Harman in my later years, I passed away in 2011, at the age of 92
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