Bowers & Wilkins CEO resigns, restructuring expert appointed

Bowers & Wilkins CEO resigns, new director appointed

(Image credit: Future)

Gideon Yu, the ex-Facebook CFO who led Eva Automation's shock acquisition of B&W in 2016, has left Bowers & Wilkins, according to company filings. Gregory Lee, who was made CEO at the end of 2019, also appears to have resigned from that role.

David Duggins has been appointed as a director of B&W Group. Duggins describes himself as a, "restructuring professional available for Board or Advisory roles in companies undergoing restructuring, re-financing or sale".

Yu and his Silicon Valley start-up, Eva Automation, were widely seen as the final piece in the jigsaw for the completion and launch of B&W's Formation wireless range, with the company helping to push the high-end system over the line following the surprise acquisition.

At the time of the takeover, Yu said: "Bowers & Wilkins brings an incredible brand, experienced and well respected team and commitment to making high-end audio equipment of unmatched quality. We at Eva share their same product vision and passion for home entertainment and look forward to creating fantastic home AV experiences together as one combined company." The company’s website claimed it was in the business of "reimagining the audio/video experience by making products that will change how people interact and think about the home".

A full range of B&W Formation products was launched in April last year – and we've been big fans, giving glowing reviews to the Formation Duo, Formation Wedge and Formation Flex.

Now it seems changes are afoot. We've reached out to Bowers & Wilkins for more details and will update our story as and when we receive a response.

MORE:

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Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff and The Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).

12 Comments Comment from the forums

manicm

Charging a few thousand pounds for a wireless speaker system and then expecting the customer to still fork out a few hundred pounds annually for Roon to be able to operate it fully is just folly of the highest order. I love B&W speakers but this is outrageous.

Naim, Denon, Sonos etc supply great apps, so if B&W want to play in this game they better pull finger.
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ExZep

Didn't happen soon enough, Eva destroyed some great people's careers. Hope the rest can rebuild and get the company back to where it should have been.
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Steve B

I have been extremely pleased with my B & W speakers, zeppelin and headphones.However I would question the pricing of the formation range compared to others in the same market. Also the P7 headphones. Why make them so they can’t function without battery power even when wired. I always like to know I have a back up if there is a battery issue. I think some focus has been lost on being in tune with the majority of customers.
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manicm said:
Charging a few thousand pounds for a wireless speaker system and then expecting the customer to still fork out a few hundred pounds annually for Roon to be able to operate it fully is just folly of the highest order. I love B&W speakers but this is outrageous.

Naim, Denon, Sonos etc supply great apps, so if B&W want to play in this game they better pull finger.
The B&W Wireless Formation Speakers eg Soundbar, subwoofer and rear speakers doesn’t even do high definition soundtracks eg Master Audio and Dolby True HD - why would anyone buy that? No HDMI input to I think. Mind you B&W have always be slow when it comes to soundbar technology.
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Spunkrock

Good riddance.
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bristollinnet

Bowers and Wilkins can rightly claim to have an impressive heritage, industry-leading research and a mix of cost-effective and aspirational speakers. These are the components that contribute to a legendary British brand, a stable workforce, and happy owners.

And then they totally mess up by following the crowd and diversifying into making headphones, active and wireless speakers, AV soundbars, car audio, etc. Little of this new stuff is class-leading despite their claims. They should focus on what they're really good at. If they don't, their brand (and business) will be irretrievably lost.
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Jimboo

Maybe what their good at isn't what the consumer is buying.
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I think B&W should build some more home cinema systems which their PV1 sub upgrade fits into. They used to have the FPM Series and the B&W XT speakers, 2 systems that were bought in bucket loads. Now they only have the B&W M1s which gets used with the PV1 upgrade. Theses systems were very good quality but also had a style aspect going for them, now when I look at their home cinema systems they are all pretty big, bulky and ugly.
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detroitnvleft

So I will preface this by saying I would consider myself a somewhat audio novice. That being said, I have always been a fan of B&W speakers; I have had different models throughout the past 15 years or so (nothing on the high end of their offerings). With all of the changes going on, I am wondering if people here could make some recommendation on alternative options in the same quality range of B&W? Thank you in advance.
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detroitnvleft said:
So I will preface this by saying I would consider myself a somewhat audio novice. That being said, I have always been a fan of B&W speakers; I have had different models throughout the past 15 years or so (nothing on the high end of their offerings). With all of the changes going on, I am wondering if people here could make some recommendation on alternative options in the same quality range of B&W? Thank you in advance.
Which speakers do you have at present? B&W could easily start producing stylish speakers again to be honest there is not much wrong with them at present and a lot of customers prefer big boxes because they should produce better sound. They still review great, they have loads of new subs which look great! We are just pointing out slight niggles we have about them. B&W brand is still very strong nothing has gone down hill.

If you want to consider your options Monitor Audio do a vast range of speakers too, but if you like B&W I would keep with them just keep an eye on the situation by reading reviews and checking the forum regularly too, when you decide to purchase also try and demo first always.
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