Harman is buying Bowers & Wilkins, Marantz and Denon as Masimo sells its consumer audio business

Harman International has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Masimo's consumer audio division by the end of the year.

The agreed $350m cash sale, subject to certain adjustments, will see the Samsung-owned company take in legendary hi-fi brands Bowers & Wilkins, Denon and Marantz, as well as Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Classé, HEOS and Boston Acoustics, expanding its extensive AV catalogue.

Harman, which has been owned by Samsung Electronics since 2016, already owns significant AV brands such as Arcam, AKG, JBL, Mark Levinson and Revel.

Samsung says it plans to add Masimo's brands to strengthen its global leading position in the consumer audio market, which is expected to grow from $60.8bn this year to $70bn in 2029.

“This acquisition represents a strategic step forward in the expansion of Harman’s core audio business and footprint across key product categories such as Home Audio, Headphones, Hi-fi components, and Car Audio," says Dave Rogers, president of Harman's Lifestyle division.

"Built on a shared legacy of innovation and excellence in audio technology, this combined family of brands, together with the talented employees of both companies, will deliver complementary audio products, strengthen our value proposition and offer more choices to consumers.”

Only three years ago, US medical company Masimo acquired those eight audio brands from high-end audio business Sound United for $1.025bn, although for over a year the writing was on the wall that it was looking to sell them on.

Sound United only acquired Bowers & Wilkins in 2020, too, so you could say the British speaker brand has been around the houses in the past five years – not that the quality of its products appears to have suffered in that time, with its speakers and headphones arguably stronger than ever on the performance-value front.

So what does this sale mean for customers? Right now, presumably not much. We have reached out to our Masimo and Harman contacts to see whether any more light can be shed at this early stage.

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