NEWS: Harman/Kardon founder to retire after 53 years
One of the fathers of the modern audio industry, Sidney Harman, is set to retire from Harman International, the business he founded in 1953.
Dr Harman, who is 89, has led the company from the beginning, having bought out his partner, Bernard Kardon, after just three years.
The two got together to produce their first product, an FM tuner, and since then the company has expanded through a series of acquisitions in both the consumer and professional markets. In 2006-2007 it had sales in excess of $3.5bn.
Other milestones along the way include the world's first stereo receiver, the Festival TA230 of 1958, and over the years the Harman group has become home to some of the best-known names in audio.
Among its brands are Becker, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson and Revel, while pro brands include AKG, Allen & Heath, Soundcraft, Studer and Turbosound. It also has a huge business supplying line-fit audio systems for car manufacturers.
Dr Harman, who was also undersecretary of the US Department of Commerce during the Carter adminstration of the late 1970s, will step down as chairman on July 1, and retire from the company's board at the company's annual shareholders' meeting in December.
He will be succeeded by Dinesh Paliwal, who has been president, CEO and vice chairman since joining the company last summer.
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Is there a reason why WhatHiFi have not reviewed any HK hifi equipment for some time. They never appear in any of the group test - is there a general consensus that their equipment falls into the "also run" category?
They haven't wanted to supply kit - apart from the occasional product - for test. But we're working on that...
FYI there's a test of HK's HS250 2.1 home cinema system in the August issue of What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision