Harman Kardon is now under new leadership as it appears that Samsung has acquired its parent company, Harman International Industries, for a cool USD8 billion.
Samsung first announced its intentions to purchase the audio and auto parts supplier back in November. With the deal being completed, Samsung will now own many of Harman International Industries’ sub-brands. This includes JBL, Harman Kardon, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, and many others. Harman’s main base of operations will remain in Stamford, Connecticut, while the company as a whole will now act as a standalone subsidiary under President and CEO Dinesh Paliwal.
“Samsung shares our commitment to our customers and our culture of speed, innovation and execution. Samsung provides Harman with the scale, platform and complementary technologies to accelerate growth and extend our global market leadership in automotive, smart audio, and connected technologies,” says Paliwal.
“Today is a historic moment for us. The close of this transaction opens the door to create substantial growth opportunities and deliver greater benefits for customers worldwide. We see transformative opportunities in the car – and a future which seamlessly connects lifestyle across automotive, home, mobile and work. Samsung’s and Harman’s leadership in these spaces perfectly positions Samsung to be the preferred partner to our OEM customers,” says Young Sohn, President and Chief Strategy Officer of Samsung Electronics.