B&W sold to American venture capitalist

[Pedro2]

Just read this in news item on the main WHF site. Thought it might be of interest. The article states 'the buyer is Gideon Yu, a former Facebook chief financial officer and venture capitalist, and the current co-owner of the San Francisco 49ers. Apparently Atkins and Yu met just 30 days ago'.

 

[manicm]

Not surprised, seen the massive product placement advertising on American series Empire?

 

[itsme]

1st the investor will sell all the belonings and cash

2nd B&W will have to lease-back the belonings (with huge interest)

3rd B&W will come in debt

4th the new buyer will invest a bit more in B&W, for the first and/or second year

5th B&W will still be in debt

6th the investor will say that he refuses to invest even more

and at last B&W will have bankruptcy

This is how Sun Capital kills businesses.

 

[bigboss]

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/expect-unexpected

 

[bigboss]

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/expect-unexpected

 

[The_Lhc]

1st the investor will sell all the belonings and cash

2nd B&W will have to lease-back the belonings (with huge interest)

3rd B&W will come in debt

4th the new buyer will invest a bit more in B&W, for the first and/or second year

5th B&W will still be in debt

6th the investor will say that he refuses to invest even more 

and at last B&W will have bankruptcy

This is how Sun Capital kills businesses.

Why do you think the owner, who will still be in charge, would allow that to happen to the company that he's spent 30 years building up? This doesn't read anything like that sort of takeover.

Thinking about it, I think this is closer to the Sonos development path, entrepreneurs awash with cash from previous non-hi-fi related business successes decide to do something they actually care about and get into the modern network equipped hi-fi market. The difference in this case is that rather than starting from scratch with the speaker side of things they've decided to get hold of an established manufacturer to get a leapfrog along the development path. Imagine Sonos type devices using B&W drivers and knowledge, could be great!

 

[Infiniteloop]

1st the investor will sell all the belonings and cash

2nd B&W will have to lease-back the belonings (with huge interest)

3rd B&W will come in debt

4th the new buyer will invest a bit more in B&W, for the first and/or second year

5th B&W will still be in debt

6th the investor will say that he refuses to invest even more

and at last B&W will have bankruptcy

This is how Sun Capital kills businesses.

Why do you think the owner, who will still be in charge, would allow that to happen to the company that he's spent 30 years building up? This doesn't read anything like that sort of takeover.

Thinking about it, I think this is closer to the Sonos development path, entrepreneurs awash with cash from previous non-hi-fi related business successes decide to do something they actually care about and get into the modern network equipped hi-fi market. The difference in this case is that rather than starting from scratch with the speaker side of things they've decided to get hold of an established manufacturer to get a leapfrog along the development path. Imagine Sonos type devices using B&W drivers and knowledge, could be great!

I think this is much more like when TAG McLaren F1 took Audiolab over.

 

[Jota180]

How much profit does B&W currently make? I think the new owner will be looking at easy ways to increase profits and the easiest way is to get rid of the single biggest expense, the work force in the UK and move it either to the US or China. Don't B&W already have a facility or access to one in China?

Dyson and a multitude of other companies have done this. Should the UK exit the EU I think that would hasten the departure of jobs since the tariffs for sales in the EU may end up being prohibitive.

 

[The_Lhc]

Read the latest comments from Gideon Yu, it just doesn't read like someone looking to asset strip and make a quick buck, he says he's going into this because he couldn't buy the product he wanted, so he's decided to make his own, that means development. That's not how you make a "quick profit".

 

[Al ears]

Read the latest comments from Gideon Yu, it just doesn't read like someone looking to asset strip and make a quick buck, he says he's going into this because he couldn't buy the product he wanted, so he's decided to make his own, that means development. That's not how you make a "quick profit".

Quite so, and the cunning part is he is using other people's money to do it. Makes sense.

 

[Chris Munden]

Yet another famous British name sold to a foreign owner, The list is endless and not just Hi Fi, from chocolate to Rolls Royce, why doesn't Cameron put the whole country on E Bay, One small Island, many inventions needs new owner.

 

[BigH]

How much profit does B&W currently make? I think the new owner will be looking at easy ways to increase profits and the easiest way is to get rid of the single biggest expense, the work force in the UK and move it either to the US or China. Don't B&W already have a facility or access to one in China?

Dyson and a multitude of other companies have done this. Should the UK exit the EU I think that would hasten the departure of jobs since the tariffs for sales in the EU may end up being prohibitive.

Yes a lot of B&W speakers are made in China. I think only the 800 series is made here or is that assembled here?

 

[BigH]

Yet another famous British name sold to a foreign owner, The list is endless and not just Hi Fi, from chocolate to Rolls Royce, why doesn't Cameron put the whole country on E Bay, One small Island, many inventions needs new owner.

The owner is Canadian anyway. So really its Canadian sold to American? Nothing to do with Cameron.

 

[jjbomber]

why doesn't Cameron put the whole country on E Bay,

British Home Stores sold for £1 and is back on sale again due to it's £571million pension fund debt. Imagine trying to sell an island that is trillions in debt. Be lucky to get £1, but at least the ebay fees won't be much!

 

[Frank Harvey]

Yes a lot of B&W speakers are made in China. I think only the 800 series is made here or is that assembled here?

600 Series and CM Series are built at the B&W/Rotel/Classe factory in China. The 800 Series is fully designed and built here. I've been to the factory twice - the first time was impressive, but it wasn't until the second time I got to see a whole other part to the factory, which was the various areas where the 800 Series is built and finished.

 

[Chris Munden]

It will be the old story, buy out, close UK factory.

 

[jjbomber]

It will be the old story, buy out, close UK factory.

But a happy ending as a staff member makes off with their new £22,500 speakers from the Munich show.

 

[Big Aura]

Yet another famous British name sold to a foreign owner, The list is endless and not just Hi Fi, from chocolate to Rolls Royce, why doesn't Cameron put the whole country on E Bay, One small Island, many inventions needs new owner.

Don't take this the wrong way, but your post reads a bit daily mail - low on facts, high on emotion...

There's a vast difference between venture capital and private equity. VC normally invests in brilliant, but disfunctional companies - to add order to chaos and aid the creative process by removing the burden of structure/direction. PE is a focus purely on the numbers - take a company that returns X and sweat the assets/opportunities to deliver X+. Basically PE takes good ideas, compromises on quality (because 8/10 customers cannot tell their elbow from other parts of their anatomy) and rolls out an easy to franchise/scalable process.

Turning that to Hi-Fi, and I don't think either model really works. This is really a curious deal.

High-end HiFi is a quirky business. Brilliant minds are focussed on perfection. They make some gear to pay the rent but that means they've got the financial security to make the amazing products which offer a poor return. Sell lots of P5s, and make Nautilius. (See also the career of Denzel Washington).

So how does this play out in HiFi? The Sonos analogy is actually a really, really good one. I expect the brilliant minds of b&w will be herded into working on wireless onebox solutions, headhones, slick bose-y type affairs. They will still work on the HiFi core (and a British design house will be central to that message), but that will be purely to show that they have pedigree to gloss the true focus (upper-mid-range lifestyle solutions).

A sad erosion of a brand I really love.

 

[Frank Harvey]

But a happy ending as a staff member makes off with their new £22,500 speakers from the Munich show.

At 120kg each, they'd deserve them if they could manage such a feat.

 

[jjbomber]

But a happy ending as a staff member makes off with their new £22,500 speakers from the Munich show.

At 120kg each, they'd deserve them if they could manage such a feat.

Even more worrying, there were 3 of them, all in different finishes. So 360kg for odd looking triplets. But revenge is a dish best served cold.

 

[keeper of the quays]

1st the investor will sell all the belonings and cash

2nd B&W will have to lease-back the belonings (with huge interest)

3rd B&W will come in debt

4th the new buyer will invest a bit more in B&W, for the first and/or second year

5th B&W will still be in debt

6th the investor will say that he refuses to invest even more 

and at last B&W will have bankruptcy

This is how Sun Capital kills businesses.

Why do you think the owner, who will still be in charge, would allow that to happen to the company that he's spent 30 years building up? This doesn't read anything like that sort of takeover.

Thinking about it, I think this is closer to the Sonos development path, entrepreneurs awash with cash from previous non-hi-fi related business successes decide to do something they actually care about and get into the modern network equipped hi-fi market. The difference in this case is that rather than starting from scratch with the speaker side of things they've decided to get hold of an established manufacturer to get a leapfrog along the development path. Imagine Sonos type devices using B&W drivers and knowledge, could be great!

I grudgingly agree with this comment. 🙁

 

[keeper of the quays]

Yet another famous British name sold to a foreign owner, The list is endless and not just Hi Fi, from chocolate to Rolls Royce, why doesn't Cameron put the whole country on E Bay, One small Island, many inventions needs new owner.

Great Britain has always opened it's doors to foreigners who come here to shelter from oppression. We have a tradition of free thinking and open mindedness which makes our country great, why people wish to come here? That's the reason..As the Roman view was to make every foreigner a Roman? Which made their Empire great..So all then Romans! They had a stake in the Roman way...Much the same here, our foreigners come here...Flourish and their culture enriches ours as they are enriched by us? So it's win win..And to complain when one of our long lost sons comes back and buys some of our heritage? To promote our skills across the globe, must be a good thing and to be applauded.

 

[The_Lhc]

1st the investor will sell all the belonings and cash

2nd B&W will have to lease-back the belonings (with huge interest)

3rd B&W will come in debt

4th the new buyer will invest a bit more in B&W, for the first and/or second year

5th B&W will still be in debt

6th the investor will say that he refuses to invest even more 

and at last B&W will have bankruptcy

This is how Sun Capital kills businesses.

Why do you think the owner, who will still be in charge, would allow that to happen to the company that he's spent 30 years building up? This doesn't read anything like that sort of takeover.

Thinking about it, I think this is closer to the Sonos development path, entrepreneurs awash with cash from previous non-hi-fi related business successes decide to do something they actually care about and get into the modern network equipped hi-fi market. The difference in this case is that rather than starting from scratch with the speaker side of things they've decided to get hold of an established manufacturer to get a leapfrog along the development path. Imagine Sonos type devices using B&W drivers and knowledge, could be great!

I grudgingly agree with this comment. 🙁

I'm disappointed with you.

More so than usual I mean...

 

[The_Lhc]

Yet another famous British name sold to a foreign owner, The list is endless and not just Hi Fi, from chocolate to Rolls Royce, why doesn't Cameron put the whole country on E Bay, One small Island, many inventions needs new owner.

Great Britain has always opened it's doors to foreigners who come here to shelter from oppression. We have a tradition of free thinking and open mindedness which makes our country great, why people wish to come here? That's the reason..As the Roman view was to make every foreigner a Roman? Which made their Empire great..So all then Romans! They had a stake in the Roman way...Much the same here, our foreigners come here...Flourish and their culture enriches ours as they are enriched by us? So it's win win..And to complain when one of our long lost sons comes back and buys some of our heritage? To promote our skills across the globe, must be a good thing and to be applauded.

Hmm, now THAT'S more annoying than I figured it would be...

 

[keeper of the quays]

1st the investor will sell all the belonings and cash

2nd B&W will have to lease-back the belonings (with huge interest)

3rd B&W will come in debt

4th the new buyer will invest a bit more in B&W, for the first and/or second year

5th B&W will still be in debt

6th the investor will say that he refuses to invest even more 

and at last B&W will have bankruptcy

This is how Sun Capital kills businesses.

Why do you think the owner, who will still be in charge, would allow that to happen to the company that he's spent 30 years building up? This doesn't read anything like that sort of takeover.

Thinking about it, I think this is closer to the Sonos development path, entrepreneurs awash with cash from previous non-hi-fi related business successes decide to do something they actually care about and get into the modern network equipped hi-fi market. The difference in this case is that rather than starting from scratch with the speaker side of things they've decided to get hold of an established manufacturer to get a leapfrog along the development path. Imagine Sonos type devices using B&W drivers and knowledge, could be great!

I grudgingly agree with this comment. 🙁

I'm disappointed with you.

More so than usual I mean...

your up late! I'm ruminating and have indigestion! Ps I just vented my spleen on gels tv thread...dont read it! You know the supply of steam coming out of your ears is not unlimited? 🙂 save some steam for a rainy day! Lol