A Surprising Tech Giant Just Acquired Several Iconic Hi-Fi Brands. Here’s Why It Matters

Big news out of the world of high-end audio.

This week, it was announced that Harman International will be acquiring Sound United — the conglomerate that owns several heritage hi-fi brands such as Marantz, Bowers & Wilkins, Denon and Polk Audio — for $350 million.

It’s noteworthy for a few reasons.

Marantz

A surprising, rising hi-fi giant

First, Harman International is acquiring Sound United from Masimo — the healthcare giant probably best known for its recent widely publicized patent dispute with Apple regarding the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen technology — which had previously bought Sound United for $1 billion in 2022.

So, in a sense, Harman International is getting a great deal on these legacy hi-fi brands by acquiring them for significantly less.

Second, and more significantly, Harman International is actually a subsidiary of Samsung, so this acquisition gives the tech giant a surprising amount of control over some of your favorite audio brands … one that’s wider-reaching than you might think.

Gear Patrol

Casting a wider hi-fi net

Samsung acquired Harman International in 2017 for $8 billion. When it did, it gained control over all the prominent hi-fi that were owned by Harman International, which included JBL, Harman Kardon, Arcam, AKG, Mark Levinson and Revel.

The fact that Samsung is adding many other prominent audio manufacturers, especially Marantz and Bowers & Wilkins, widens its umbrella and control of many of the most iconic audio brands.

It’s worth noting that there has been quite a bit of movement in the ownership of legacy audio brands. Most recently, Bose acquired the McIntosh Group, the parent company of both McIntosh and Sonus Faber, this past fall.

Mark Levinson

An alternative audio approach

Samsung’s approach to audio is interesting, especially when you compare it to Apple’s.

Sure, both make a variety of wireless earbuds that work especially well with their smartphones and other devices. Still, Apple’s AirPods business is on a different level — in 2023, Apple’s AirPods business reportedly brought in $18 billion in revenue on its own.

And while Apple has dipped its toes into noise-canceling over-ear headphones (AirPods Max) and wireless home speakers (HomePod and HomePod mini), Samsung has refrained from doing so. Remember the Galaxy Home smart speaker that Samsung announced in 2018? Yea, that was never released.

Lexus

Instead, Samsung seems to have carved its own path. By acquiring these esteemed audio brands, it’s able to license their technologies to others … the most prominent seems to be to automotive brands.

Today, most Toyota cars have JBL sound systems, while BMW has struck a deal with Harman Kardon, Lexus with Mark Levinson, Lincoln with Revel … you get the idea.

Samsung has also been utilizing these hi-fi brands’ expertise an sound tuning technologies into its own products, and it plans to do the same moving forward.

According to the press release, Samsung “plans to apply the professional audio technology/know-how accumulated from the recently acquired B&W, Denon, and Marantz to [its] smartphones, wireless earphones, headphones, TVs, and sound bars to expand the market and enhance customer experience.”

Samsung

A better home (hopefully)

Back in 2018, when Masimo acquired Sound United, it admittedly felt like an odd fit. Why did a healthcare technology company want with all these legacy audio brands? And thus it proved to be so.

Samsung feels like a better home. To date, Samsung has allowed Harmon International (and all its legacy brands) to function as a mostly independent subsidiary. Aside from the shared audio technologies, brands like JBL, Harmon Kardon and Mark Levinson have been allowed to function like they previously had.

And the hope is, when the acquisition is complete, the recently-acquired hi-fi brands under the Sound United umbrella will do the same. Fingers crossed.

Pending approval, the deal is expected to be finalized by the end of 2025.

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