Harman has announced that it is to purchase Bang & Olufsen’s automotive audio business.
The audio specialist has revealed that it intends to buy the Danish premium audio brand’s car audio department for €145 million, which works out to around £105 million.
B&O’s car audio department makes audio equipment for high-end car brands including Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes Benz.
It seems as if this deal will include much more than just the B&O brand. Harman will also be getting Bang & Olufsen Automotive’s customer programs as well as its development and production resources.
“Bang & Olufsen is a distinctive brand that will complement our existing premium branded offerings and strengthen HARMAN’s position in this segment,” said Harman CEO Dinesh C. Paliwal.
He added that Harman would focus on steering the B&O car audio brand towards the mass market.
“While Bang & Olufsen branded solutions will continue at the top of the high-end luxury segment, we will rapidly grow B&O PLAY branded solutions in the larger mass luxury market,” Paliwal said.
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Harman is already a big player in car audio. Its products are in more than 25 million cars, and its brands include Bowers & Wilkins, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson and Revel.
Now you can add Bang & Olufsen to that list – pending regulatory approval, of course.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
