Moody’s Investors Service, one of the nation’s largest credit rating agencies, announced last week that it has raised the credit rating of Guitar Center, the owner of custom integration company Audio Visual Design Group. Guitar Center has struggled for years, finally falling into bankruptcy – from which it emerged about ten months ago in December 2020.
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Trying to Avert Disaster, Onkyo Signs Preliminary Deal to Sell to Voxx/Sharp
I can’t say this news from Onkyo Home Entertainment comes as much of a surprise. And based on conversations I’ve had with many of you over the last week or so, my reference a couple of weeks back to the growing romance between Onkyo and Voxx was clearly a wink-nod signal that I saw this coming. Onkyo has signed a preliminary agreement to sell their largest, but not their only, remaining division – the home audio/video division – to a partnership consisting of Sharp Corp. and Voxx Intl. The deal includes the Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer, and Pioneer Elite brands.
But after the abject failure of three previous attempts to sell the troubled company, will this deal actually close? See my thoughts…
Will deal between Onkyo and VOXX/Sharp close?
[Read more…] about Trying to Avert Disaster, Onkyo Signs Preliminary Deal to Sell to Voxx/SharpBudding Onkyo & Voxx Romance Grows, Adds Teac & Esoteric to 11 Trading Company
This week we learned that 11 Trading Company…part of Premium Audio Company…which itself is part of Voxx International (love those big corporate structures), has added the only remaining Onkyo brands – Teac & Esoteric – to their distribution line list. They did not include these brands in the original announcement of their agreement with Onkyo, but most people expected it to be added in time. With this new development we get a nice progression of the budding relationship between the companies – Voxx distributing Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer, Pioneer Elite, Teac & Esoteric – while Onkyo Corp. becomes the Klipsch distributor in Japan. Where could this be heading?
See more on Onkyo & Voxx/11 Trading Company partnership…
[Read more…] about Budding Onkyo & Voxx Romance Grows, Adds Teac & Esoteric to 11 Trading CompanySnapAV & Integra Announce a New Exclusive Distribution Deal
On Tuesday, SnapAV announced that it has inked an agreement with Onkyo Corporation to become the exclusive distributor of the company’s Integra brand for the countries of Australia and New Zealand. SnapAV says this new appointment will take effect on February 1, 2021.
Learn more about this new distribution deal…
[Read more…] about SnapAV & Integra Announce a New Exclusive Distribution DealGuitar Center, Owner of AVDG, Files for Bankruptcy
In an unusual Saturday night filing, Guitar Center, Inc., parent company to AV integration company Audio Visual Design Group (AVDG), filed for bankruptcy protection. The move was widely expected by many industry watchers for years, and caps a difficult business history for Guitar Center, starting back in 2007 when they were first acquired by Bain Capital.
See what we know so far about the Guitar Center and AVDG bankruptcy…
[Read more…] about Guitar Center, Owner of AVDG, Files for BankruptcyOnkyo Corp. is Insolvent; Now It’s in a Struggle to Survive
Onkyo Corporation had a really tough fiscal 2020 – the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2020. How tough was it? So tough that the company was forced to announce that a massive drop in revenues and record losses had pushed the company into insolvency – calling into question its ability to continue as a going concern. It doesn’t get much tougher than that. And this announcement triggered a Tokyo Stock Exchange action – invoking a rule that starts a clock on a limited grace period for the company to cure the situation – their insolvency – before a forced delisting from the JASDAQ stock exchange is implemented.
So what happens now with Onkyo?
[Read more…] about Onkyo Corp. is Insolvent; Now It’s in a Struggle to SurviveOnkyo Closes US Subsidiary, Terminates Dealers, and Outsources Distribution to Klipsch
A Strangely Retroactive Notification
Last week, a letter was sent to all Onkyo dealers in the United States notifying them that their dealer agreements were being terminated. The reason for this termination? Onkyo USA Corporation no longer exists and therefore can no longer serve them. Don’t miss the significance of this historic moment – for the first time in 45-years there is no Onkyo subsidiary in the U.S., once the largest market for parent Onkyo Pioneer Corporation (OPC) of Osaka, Japan.
See more about this turn of events at Onkyo…
[Read more…] about Onkyo Closes US Subsidiary, Terminates Dealers, and Outsources Distribution to KlipschReader’s Choice: The Top 10 Strata-gee Stories of 2019
As we hurtle headlong into the a new decade – the 2020s – it’s a good time to pause and take stock of some of the major events of our industry’s recent history by ranking the Top 10 Strata-gee stories of 2019 based on total page views. This ranking shows just what stories drew the most attention of Strata-gee’s eminently intelligent and inquisitive readers.
See which 2019 Strata-gee stories were tops with readers…
[Read more…] about Reader’s Choice: The Top 10 Strata-gee Stories of 2019With Loss of Two Potential Buyers, Onkyo’s Future is a Question Mark
As you most likely know by now, Onkyo Corp. and Sound United have called off their transaction which would have transferred ownership of the 73-year old Onkyo brand, as well as the Integra, Pioneer, and Pioneer Elite brands to Sound United. The shocking news capped off a nearly five month process where many in the industry tried to figure out just how this deal made sense.
This was the second loss of a potential buyer for Onkyo, which admits it is re-evaluating its future based on the failure to sell off its brands.
See why Onkyo’s future is a question mark…
[Read more…] about With Loss of Two Potential Buyers, Onkyo’s Future is a Question MarkSound United to Acquire Onkyo’s Audio Division
We seem to be in a week of big deals. First, we learned that SnapAV had acquired Control4, then we learned that the original founder of Paradigm has acquired back the Paradigm, Anthem, and Martin Logan brands from the private equity company that had bought the company from him some time back. Now we learn that Sound United, owner of Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, HEOS, Classé, and Boston Acoustics has entered into an agreement with Onkyo Corp. to purchase Onkyo’s premier lineup of brands, including: Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer and Pioneer Elite.