In news that reflects more of a shift of business interests more than anything else, Japan's Pioneer electronics company has put their iconic Pioneer DJ manufacturing brand up for sale. In recent years Pioneer has evolved the industry with the development of their CDJ line of CD-operable turntables, while also recently investing in the creation of turntables that feature specifications similar to Technics now out-of-production 1200 line of turntables. Audio/video products have been a loss leader for the Pioneer company in recent years, and thus in a tough financial climate, Pioneer appears to be shedding itself of all (even profitable Pioneer DJ) audio/video brands in order to concentrate on its company profit-leading automotive electronics division.
Expecting to garner $570 million (US) dollars in sale, the DJ line was not included in the yet-to-close June sale of Pioneer's other audio/video brands to what Reuters describes as a "consortium comprising Hong Kong-based Baring Private Equity Asia and audio equipment maker Onkyo Corp." Makers of DJ equipment and speakers, Pioneer's DJ brand sale is being handled by Bank of America Merrill Lynch with many global private equity firms bidding for the company's assets and ownership.
UPDATE Pioneer says that Pioneer DJ is not up for sale. A press release was recently sent out that says the following: "there was some news related to the sale of DJ equipment our business today, including the sale and the amount, this is not something we have announced." It'll be interesting to see where this goes, as the original story came from Reuters, so someone had to have put that in the air. We'll keep you posted on where this leaves that portion of the company. (Dancing Astronaut / DJ City)
UPDATE Reports from Reuters and NASDAQ have Pioneer selling off its DJ unit to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (aka KKR & Co. LP) for 59 billion yen (around $550 million). Word is this sale will be finalized in March of 2015 (with Pioneer's DJ equipment leg being spun off into its own entity, Pioneer DJ, with Pioneer retaining 14.95% voting stake in the new company). Reuters states that Pioneer is "now concentrating on its automotive electronics business as its best bet for growth, seeing potential for expansion in emerging markets and the trend toward increasingly connected cars," with Pioneer being quoted as saying "[w]e realized we wouldn't be able to invest in the DJ business so it would be better to spin it off and grow it independently."
