Pioneer to leave the DJ business. IS this true?

[URL="https://www.residentadvisor.net/news/43714"]Pioneer to leave the DJ business[/URL]

"Despite dominating the industry, the Japanese giant faces serious financial woes. Japanese financial websites are reporting Pioneer is getting out of the DJ business.

After selling over 85% of its DJ subsidiary to investment firm KKR & Co. in 2015, both parties are now in talks to offload the entire stock to new buyers, reports Nikkei Business. The report goes on to say bidding has already begun with an expected price to land between 60 billion to 70 billion yen, which is upwards of $500 million in US currency.

Pioneer DJ, the subsidiary created during the original sale to KKR & Co., had sales of over $200 million in 2018 despite the parent company making net losses in 2016 and 2017. According to Nikkei Asian Review, Pioneer DJ controls between 60 and 70% of the global share in DJ mixers, turntables and other products.

Despite the dominance of its DJ arm, Pioneer is currently restructuring and was recently bailed out by Baring Private Equity Asia, a Hong Kong buyout firm, to the tune of $930 million. Japan Times reports that the deal involved laying off 3,000 employees, which amounts to some 15% of Pioneer's total workforce."

djfarhan 6 mai 2019 18:06

Commentaire officiel

Dear our customers

In 2015, Pioneer DJ separated from Pioneer Corporation (car and home audio) becoming a separate entity, focusing on the electronic music industry.

While there are market speculations over Pioneer DJ’s shareholding, our mission to continue to innovate and inspire people globally will continue in 2019 and beyond. We are committed to investing in the industry and inspiring creativity in DJs and artists through the support of product development and production. As a result, our business continues to demonstrate positive growth thanks to the ongoing support of our customers. We look forward to delivering more innovative products and a very exciting future in the electronic music industry.

Thanks,

Pioneer DJ

masanori 7 mai 2019 09:49

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Date Votes

5 commentaires

Saw this news item a bit earlier, and had my thoughts about it... This is a weird 'to good(bad) to be true' story, long after Aprils Fools.

Up till now no other 'news' site than Resident Advisor reported this. Not even knowing Resident Advisor, I think they're not really the New York Times.

Maybe Pulse knows a bit more from behind the scenes, but for now I expect it to be fake news.

Theo 6 mai 2019 18:55 0 votes

Please read the following 2 articles to get a better understanding.

https://djtechtools.com/2019/05/06/pioneer-dj-might-be-sold-again-in-2019/

https://www.digitaldjtips.com/2019/05/yes-pioneer-dj-may-be-for-sale-but-leaving-dj-industry-not-likely/

To quote one of these sites

"Frankly the way the story is being circulated by Mixmag and others is pretty poor journalism."

Ves 6 mai 2019 20:27 0 votes

Exactly VES, the financial news of Pioneer DJ by Mixmag and Resident Advisor is true poor journalism. But it pays of via their banners anyway I'll guess.

Pioneer DJ is an individual company, and not owned by Pioneer Audio. Pioneer Audio has only 15% of the Pioneer DJ company stocks, the rest is owned by an investment company called KKR.

Pioneer Audio wants to sell their Pioneer DJ stocks, and use this money to invest in their own company. They probably need the money to survive, and how long will this hold...

KKR maybe sees this as a moment to sell their own 85% of stocks too. Most probably they will get a lot more when selling then what they've payed in the past. And that is what investment companies like KKR do, buying and selling with profit, with no real interest in the company it self. Maybe KKR has a filosofy that the Pioneer DJ stocks won't increase that much in value anymore, so they might want to sell and reinvest in other and better company profits. KKR spins the coins only, no disks.

For Pioneer DJ there is a perfect future, when they continue to truely innovate in both their hard- and software. When some new investment company or companies understands the Pioneer DJ brand, and their reputation, they might step in, and see what can be done to make the brand even more interesting and profitable.

I personally don't expect any company like InMusic, who owns Denon DJ, to step forward. That's not good for both brands.

Maybe Matsushita, the mother company behind Panasonic and Technics, would be a nice idea. To get their position back on the DJ market. The XSL-2000 Nexus 3, LOL.

Theo 7 mai 2019 09:16 0 votes

And with Masanori's post, no additional commentary here is necessary.

Thanks for being valued Pioneer DJ customers... we're not going anywhere. ;)

Pulse 7 mai 2019 17:46 0 votes