Bowers & Wilkins

Right.

This is what added Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, and Boston Acoustics to the portfolio.

And the price tag for this second group of legends, just $350 million in cash.

Quite a drop from $8 billion.

Wait, wait, wait.

I really have to push back on this math.

Because I'm looking at this list, and Bowers & Wilkins, Denon & Morantz are arguably just as legendary, if not more premium in the home theater space, than the Harmon brands.

They paid $8 billion for Group A, but only $350 million for Group B.

John Eremindahi says, You did it again! Find Your Harmony 511 is absolutely amazing.

If you're listening through a serious hi-fi setup as I do with a powerful amplifier, brutal B&W speakers, proper cabling and custom-built vibration and acoustic isolation platforms, you know that feeling.

This is exactly why you remain my absolute number one DJ in this genre.

Also, our frequent listener Pree says, another amazing FOH radio show to please my ears and make me dance my heart out with all the great music you play and share every Wednesday.

Yeah, good.

I believe he's in Germany, and he said that he's been watching some YouTube docs about Lin and B&W, two great companies.

Hi-Fi brands that are still in business today making stuff.

Lynn Turntables, by the way.

This standalone operational model is essential for preserving the heritage, authenticity, and customer loyalty intrinsic to high-end audio.

The luxury hi-fi market relies heavily on engineering pedigree and acoustic reputation, For instance, Bowers & Wilkins, founded in the United Kingdom in 1966, supplies the reference monitoring speakers for London's Abbey Road Studios, while its flagship Nautilus loudspeakers sell for over $107,000 per pair.

Denon brings a century of innovation as an early pioneer of digital audio recording and CD playback, while Marantz is renowned for its ultra-luxury, high-performance amplifier designs.

Subsuming these legendary markers under a generic consumer electronics banner would risk destroying their specialized appeal and alienating a notoriously discerning customer base that is highly sensitive to corporate cost cutting, lockdown, software ecosystems, or product quality dilution.

Hulk Audio targets the mid-tier home cinema and entry-level stereo market, offering high-value soundbars and architectural loudspeakers.

Denon and Marantz specialise in home cinema AV receivers, multi-channel processors and high-performance hi-fi separates, with Denon primarily focused on the audio-visual market and Marantz primarily focused on the stereo audio market.

Bowers & Wilkins, Mark Levinson and Revel cater to the ultra-luxury audiophile market with reference-grade loudspeakers and uncompromising high-end amplification.

AKG operates as a dedicated professional audio specialist, manufacturing reference studio headphones and microphones for commercial broadcasting and recording facilities.

Resolving the consumer audio situation became the new leadership's immediate priority in May 2025.

Massimo entered into a definitive agreement to sell its entire consumer audio business, including Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, and Definitive Technology to Harman International, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, for $350 million.

around a third of what they had paid just three years before.

The transaction was completed later that year, ending Massimo's contentious three-year foray into high-fidelity sound and placing the iconic audio brands under the expansive umbrella of Samsung's audio empire alongside JBL and AKG for something of a bargain price.