Essential Install | News
Harman Purchased By Samsung
Samsung has announced its largest acquisition
since the company’s founding in 1938, with
the South Korean technology conglomerate
announcing a takeover of Harman International,
the automotive and AV manufacturer and home
to the AMX brand of automation products.
Harman International comprises over 20
brands, including AMX, AKG, JBL, Mark Levinson
and Revel. Despite having a huge following in the
world of AV, Harman has recently been putting
strong emphasis on its automotive business. In
Samsung has acquired Harman International
Q3 2016 the company boasted sales of $1.6
billion. Its connected car division was responsible for $767 million worth of sales, while the
company’s lifestyle audio brand brought in $473 million. Despite the large gap in sales, much of
the audio revenue was still attributed to the company’s success in the automotive market and its
acquisition of Bang & Olufsen Automotive.
Announcing its acquisition of Harman, Samsung specifically stated that it was interested in
accelerating growth in automotive technology. To enable this, Samsung has agreed to pay $8
billion to acquire all of Harman’s brands.
Harman is already the world leader when it comes to connected car solutions. The
company’s technology can be found in more than 30 million vehicles currently on the road and
in terms of yearly revenue, 65% of the money coming into the company’s coffers comes from its
automotive business.
So why is Samsung acquiring the entirety of Harman and not solely its automotive business?
Well, Samsung says that there’s a great deal of synergy to be had between the two companies.
After all, the South Korean giant already manufacturers a wide range of AV gear – including
speakers, TVs and AV receivers. Will there be crossover between Samsung’s SmartThings and the
automation abilities of AMX? This is unclear at the moment as the official Samsung release on the
acquisition does not mention AMX at a ll.
However, Samsung did say it hopes to bring Harman’s famous brand names to some of its
best known product lines – including smartphones, virtual reality headsets and other wearables.
It’s not just the consumer-facing products that are set to be complemented by Harman’s range
of AV products either. Samsung is already one of the largest commercial AV companies in the
world, with the company offering a huge presence at ISE each year.
The Harman acquisition will help the company grow in the commercial space even further,
with Samsung hoping to deliver integrated, large-scale audio and visual professional solutions to
stadiums, concert facilities and other performance centres around the world.
Structure wise, Harman is set to operate separately and have its own corporate structure.
While it will still be a Samsung subsidiary, Harman’s current management team, workforce,
headquarters and facilities will all be retained after the acquisition is complete. EI will bring you
more news on AMX’s part in all of this as it becomes available.
More information: AMX +44 (0)207 6529450 www.amx.com
Crestron Hosts First Ever EMEA Training Conference
Crestron recently hosted its first ever training
conference that brought together trainers from
across the EMEA region. During the two-day
conference discussions were held aimed at
exploring training requirements, key processes and
online registrations and how to improve training
style and opportunities across the region.
The event also provided the opportunity to
announce the promotion of Tom Wright to EMEA
CSP manager. Tom, who has worked at Crestron for
nine years, will continue to manage the UK training
Crestron hosted a training conference that
operation, teaching the higher level courses,
brought together trainers from across the
EMEA region
and being involved in the Crestron curriculum
development team. In addition he will be managing
the certification program; assisting new applicants through their path to certification and
maintaining contact with the EMEA CSP community.
The programme also saw key representatives from the US visit to speak about new product
developments and the relevant training courses required in the run up to ISE 2017 and
Crestron Masters 2017.
More information: Crestron +44 (0)845 873 8787 www.crestron.eu
10 | November 2016
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22/11/2016 10:28