RIP Pioneer? Pioneer looks to divest itself of its AV business

Danny Tse

http://www.twice.com/blog/reporters-notebook/will-pioneer-sell-its-av-business/45271

Pioneer hopes to strike a deal by July to divest itself of its A/V business but remain in the car electronics business, which generates 70 percent of sales, Nikkei reported.

Pioneer would also probably keep high-margin portions of the business, including DJ equipment, Nikkei said.

The company is said to be in talks with Funai Electric and other potential purchasers that could use the Pioneer brand.

Funai, it seems, is a logical suitor.

Pioneer executives in the U.S. were unavailable for comment in time for this post.

Pioneer’s A/V business includes audio components, soundbars, HTiBs, Blu-ray players, networked tabletop speakers, and other home and portable audio products but not TVs, a market that the company already left. In fiscal 2013, Pioneer’s A/V segment generated sales of 108 billion yen, or about 20 percent of the company’s total sales.

Funai might be interested in Pioneer’s audio business because its agreement with Philips to market Philips-brand, Philips-manufactured audio in North America on an exclusive basis end at the end of 2015. In addition, Philips entered a deal to sell its global audio business to Gibson Brands. The deal is expected to close in the second half.

Under the deal, Philips’s DVD and Blu-ray business will be transferred to Gibson in 2017 because of existing intellectual property licensing arrangements.

Funai company P&F USA is also the exclusive North American licensee for Philips-brand consumer TVs through 2015 under a separate agreement, which makes P&F USA responsible for the sourcing, distribution, marketing and sales of those products. Philips previously sold off its TV-manufacturing business to Hong Kong-based TP Vision (TPV).

xjghost

Interesting. So the name would continue but the owner would be different? I wonder if the quality would change. I've always considered Pioneer as one of the middle ground electronics company. Not really high end but better for the money then most.

EndersShadow

Oh man... wait another year or two till I get my Elite model.. then do whatever you want lol....

Just dont mess with my ICE POWER future!

tonyb

Not an ice power fan myself. Still haven't heard one that sounds up to snuff. Too dry and sterile for my old ears. Besides, I think whats the point if your going to add a power amp to a receiver anyway .....like most eventually do ?

EndersShadow

tonyb wrote: »

Not an ice power fan myself. Still haven't heard one that sounds up to snuff. Too dry and sterile for my old ears. Besides, I think whats the point if your going to add a power amp to a receiver anyway .....like most eventually do ?

Hehehe... I am moving FROM 2 power amps to a SC model Tony.. I refuse to be grouped in with "most"

Toolfan66

Who Cares? we have Emotiva!!!

pitdogg2

xjghost wrote: »

Interesting. So the name would continue but the owner would be different? I wonder if the quality would change. I've always considered Pioneer as one of the middle ground electronics company. Not really high end but better for the money then most.

too bad you think that way Pioneer has been a leader in innovation and thanks to those innovations the trickle down effect has been felt in many other A/V companies. Anybody remember "Goldstar" electronics? The builders of super cheap junk? Well its now known as LG and has improved over the previous model by tons but, I'm not going to hold my breath that "Funai" will be of the same caliber.

BlueFox

Interesting. So Pioneer has gone from making all levels of stereo gear in the 70s, to a car stereo manufacturer. Sounds like good Sony style management. Time for them to give themselves a well deserved bonus. :rolleyes:

Danny Tse

BlueFox wrote: »

Interesting. So Pioneer has gone from making all levels of stereo gear in the 70s, to a car stereo manufacturer.

You mean Kenwood/JVC

xjghost

Danny Tse wrote: »

You mean Kenwood/JVC

I always liked Kenwood from back in the 80's and 90's. Another good middle of the road company IMHO. I aways thougth they made stuff a little better then Pioneer, except the Elite line of course. I actually have a receiver in my bedroom that just started to give me issues. Static in the main volume knob. Of course I cannot seem to find the part either. Kenwood KR-V8020. Of course I'm not 100% convinced its the volume knob.

F1nut

In fiscal 2013, Pioneer’s A/V segment generated sales of 108 billion yen, or about 20 percent of the company’s total sales.

Hey, we're selling too much of these, we need to get rid of that part of our business. :rolleyes:

Danny Tse

I think it is just sad to see so many home stereo brands that I lusted after in my youth all going away, or simply gone....Pioneer, Technics, Akai, Aiwa, Kenwood, JVC, Advent, AR, Mirage, etc.

nooshinjohn

Sony has divested itself of much of it's electronics as well. Vaio was sold off last year and there is some speculation their TV/Audio division may be sold to private equity later this year or early next. They are keeping Playstation however, as this was made part of the entertainment division some time ago.

WLDock

Interesting, I did not realize that their car audio division was that large.

BlueFox wrote: »

Interesting. So Pioneer has gone from making all levels of stereo gear in the 70s, to a car stereo manufacturer. Sounds like good Sony style management. Time for them to give themselves a well deserved bonus. :rolleyes:

Well, maybe your a numbers guy...but if they can make money from the larger 70% division, then how important is A/V to them if it goes away?

In fiscal 2014, consolidated net sales grew 10.2% year on year, to ¥498,051 million.
Although sales of optical disc drive-related products declined, the positive effect of the
Japanese yen’s depreciation, combined with increased sales of Car Electronics, and of
OEM products in particular, resulted in an overall increase in net sales.

Both Sony and Pioneer make low to mid line car audio products. However both have done some high end and even state of the art stuff over the years. The Sony reference XES system was $15,000 back in the late '90's. Pioneer did the ODR line and is still doing some pretty cool stuff over seas....even better than the Stage 4 stuff they bring over here to the US.

sucks2beme

car audio IS the big dog on the block.
I bet most people listen to stereo mostly in their car,
not their house.

WLDock

Danny Tse wrote: »

I think it is just sad to see so many home stereo brands that I lusted after in my youth all going away, or simply gone....Pioneer, Technics, Akai, Aiwa, Kenwood, JVC, Advent, AR, Mirage, etc.

i hear yu on this. Man did I lust over a set of Advent Laurent towers back in the day.

pitdogg2

sucks2beme wrote: »

car audio IS the big dog on the block.
I bet most people listen to stereo mostly in their car,
not their house.

well if you bet me on that you'd be wrong. I have NEVER had more than stock stereo in any of my vehicles. Way too many friends who came out to their car with 1500.00 in dash/console damage if not more....My stereo stays behind a locked credenza and my protector stands guard 24/7.

Hermitism

pitdogg2 wrote: »

well if you bet me on that you'd be wrong. I have NEVER had more than stock stereo in any of my vehicles. Way too many friends who came out to their car with 1500.00 in dash/console damage if not more....My stereo stays behind a locked credenza and my protector stands guard 24/7.

Yeah, that happened to me. When I was in college I had a Blaupunkt head unit, Pioneer amp, and a couple MTX boxes in the back. Not high end, but pretty cool for college because you could pull out the boxes from the backseat and sit them up on your car during parties. The campus police ALL took lunch at the same time so they could eat together and once a week someone's car would get their windows shattered and their audio equipment stolen between 12pm and 1pm. I had a car alarm, so they didn't stick around long enough to take everything, but they got my speakers. They never did change their lunch habits.

mantis

Just another nail in the coffin. Yet another great company going down. The Audio video business is being driven by cheap crappy sub par components anymore. Just look at the quality of most blu ray players. I'm sick of it.

txcoastal1

No press release

http://pioneer.jp/press-e/2014/pdf/0515-1.pdf

Dennis Gardner

txcoastal1 wrote: »

No press release

http://pioneer.jp/press-e/2014/pdf/0515-1.pdf

I like that.....it sounds like they Mark Twained 'em. "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

tonyb

mantis wrote: »

Just another nail in the coffin. Yet another great company going down. The Audio video business is being driven by cheap crappy sub par components anymore. Just look at the quality of most blu ray players. I'm sick of it.

I agree to an extent, but really the A/V business is being driven by what people are willing to spend...what they can afford. How many 1000 buck blu-ray players are people going to buy when wages are stagnant, jobs disappearing, and everything around you costing more and more ? The higher end has always been somewhat of a niche market before, even more so now. Though I don't even consider 1k higher end.

The market targets price points people are willing to pay, guess they aren't willing to pay that much. lol They will make what they can sell...isn't that the name of the game ?

I'm with you though, highly disappointing looking at build quality of some stuff coming out. That's why I gravitate to used higher end gear. Maybe not all the bells and whistles of modern stuff, but good sound is good sound no matter how you slice it.

tonyb

EndersShadow wrote: »

Hehehe... I am moving FROM 2 power amps to a SC model Tony.. I refuse to be grouped in with "most"

All I can tell you about that pal is....if you think a Pioneer SC receiver will do justice to a full LSI set-up, I believe that's wishful thinking.

tonyb

Man, my responses to PM's isn't showing up I sent them. So I'll respond here.

Drummond,

If you haven't received my PM's, I like the 703 idea for the girlfriend. Use the LSI 7's as surrounds until you feel she'll even use a surround system. It's been my experience women in general don't use surround sound as much, my wife surely doesn't, and how many female members do we have again ? The Pioneer SC would have no problem with that setup, though I'd personally prefer some FX's in the surround position. Plus the LSIM703 has girlfriend friendly looks and will up her 2 channel enjoyment, resulting in some nice bennies for you.

Dan,
If you move to the SC for all those LSI's, I'd still keep the big Carver on the fronts. The 15's and the 9's in that lineup need some good current to sound their best, not so sure a receiver, even the SC is up to bring out their best. Or move over to the easier to drive LSIM's. See...I'm spending your money for ya. lol

EndersShadow

tonyb wrote: »

Dan,
If you move to the SC for all those LSI's, I'd still keep the big Carver on the fronts. The 15's and the 9's in that lineup need some good current to sound their best, not so sure a receiver, even the SC is up to bring out their best. Or move over to the easier to drive LSIM's. See...I'm spending your money for ya. lol

I figured I would look at keeping the 1.0t as an option. I have also considered going with wall mounted 7's instead since my sub duties will be properly handled by my DIY sub at that point and the extra response the 15's have over the 7's may be a bit wasted. Only possible problem with that is the length of my speaker cables may not be long enough to accommodate that.

Also since its only a 5 channel setup and I don't see that changing, and with the 15's likely cut at around 70, I dont think the 15's will need as much wattage as if they were crossed lower, and the SC will have some unused channels.

I also have considered moving up to the LSiM's at some point in the distant future, but likely there would be going with 705's, 706c and dipole surrounds and the cost is quite large and hard to swallow.

tonyb

Sell the 15's and get the 703's then if you have a good sub in the mix. Then you can sell both amps too and let the Pioneer handle everything.

EndersShadow

tonyb wrote: »

Sell the 15's and get the 703's then if you have a good sub in the mix. Then you can sell both amps too and let the Pioneer handle everything.

703's require good stands... and even with them are still prone to a small child knocking them over... hence the 705 or wallmounted 7's.....

WLDock

EndersShadow wrote: »

703's require good stands... and even with them are still prone to a small child knocking them over... hence the 705 or wallmounted 7's.....

You know....i've read this concern several times on the net. IMO, you have to teach kids their boundries. From my experience, I would be more concerned with kids putting a hole through the speaker grill and driver with a toy or drumstick than them tipping them over. If they are on solid weighted stands, the speakers are 30lbs each plus the weight of the stands and the 705's are 78lbs each. So, rather it is the 703's or 705's...the kid have to be tought to not touch and to stay away. If they can get enough motion to tip stand mounted 703's then they very well might be able to tip the slender and tall 705's also.

Teach them to STAY AWAY!!!

leftwinger57

This almost smacks of Avery Fisher selling his name/ company to the Japanese. All that gear which was great here became horrid. Then you have another buy-out w/ no change to name or quality when McIntosh sold to the company Clarion and then on to the giant holding company of D&M who multiple brands of high end electronic companies and by all accounts build quality, or loss of empoyees never happened as was promised by D&M.

tonyb

WLDock wrote: »

Teach them to STAY AWAY!!!

Bingo...give the man a cookie. I taught all my grandkids to stay away and never once had an issue with them. Why get lamps too, kids will knock those over no sweat ? Leave an Ipad on the counter ? Kids will spill something on that or knock that off the counter. Can't blame the kids for lack of direction....and follow through.

TNHNDYMAN

tonyb wrote: »

Bingo...give the man a cookie. I taught all my grandkids to stay away and never once had an issue with them. Why get lamps too, kids will knock those over no sweat ? Leave an Ipad on the counter ? Kids will spill something on that or knock that off the counter. Can't blame the kids for lack of direction....and follow through.

This is well and good for the majority of cases, but not always. My daughter is autistic and has learning disabilities as well as problems with gross and fine motor control skills. When she walks thru the hallway at home she often bounces of the side walls like a pinball because her awareness of what's around her is lacking and also her ability to control her own body in space is difficult for her as well. I can spank her all I want and create consequences that cause her to lose things she enjoys if she breaks my rules around my gear, but that would only confuse her and won't do a damn thing for her brain synapses firing off kilter compared to a nuerotypical child.

There are many days that I wish things were different, but when I see the struggle she has to do things most people take for granted, my little concerns about my audio gear take a big back seat and pale in comparison.

Trust me I was taught to stay away from my dad's gear and be respectful of other peoples stuff when we visited family or friends and there were severe consequences for my a$$ if I didn't behave appropriately.