Harman International Industries

Background

Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon founded the predecessor to Harman International, Harman Kardon, in 1953. Both Harman and Kardon were engineers by training and had worked at the Bogen Company, which was a manufacturer of public address systems. They developed high-fidelity audio products together. Harman bought out his partner in 1956 and then expanded Harman Kardon.

History

In the 1960s, Harman Kardon acquired other audio companies such as JBL. In the 1970s, Harman accepted an appointment in the Carter administration as United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce and sold his company to conglomerate Beatrice Foods to avoid a conflict of interest. Beatrice sold many portions of the company, including the original Harman Kardon division.

After he left his government position in 1978, he created Harman International Industries and reacquired a number of businesses he sold to Beatrice. The company continued its growth with a string of acquisitions throughout the 1980s. Harman International went public in 1986 with a stock offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Cash from that sale was used to purchase other professional and consumer audio companies, including Soundcraft, DOD Electronics Corp, Infinity and Epicure loudspeakers, Allen & Heath, dbx, Studer, Lexicon, AKG, BSS, Orban, Quested and Turbosound.

A 2003 acquisition was Madrigal Audio Laboratories which includes Mark Levinson and Revel. In July 2011, Harman acquired MWM Acoustics. Harman expanded to include lighting in 2013 with the acquisition of Martin Professional. In June 2014, Harman completed the acquisition of AMX LLC.

In March 2015, Harman acquired the automotive division of Bang & Olufsen for €145 million (US$156 million) for the unit as well as technology license fees. The purchase did not include Bang & Olufsen's consumer-electronics business. Later that year, recognizing the increasing role of software and services in the markets it served, Harman expanded its capabilities around cloud, mobility and analytics with the acquisitions of Symphony Teleca, a software services company based in Mountain View, CA, and Redbend, an Israeli-based provider of software management technology for connected devices, and over-the-air (OTA) software and firmware upgrading services.

In March 2016, Harman acquired the automotive cyber-security firm TowerSec. This acquisition was notable for further demonstrating Harman's desire to expand beyond its traditional business areas of in-car audio and entertainment systems.

On November 14, 2016, Harman entered into an agreement to be acquired by Samsung Electronics for $8 billion in cash. In February 2017, Harman International shareholders voted in favor of the acquisition by Samsung. On March 10, 2017, the acquisition was completed, with Harman becoming the independent subsidiary of Samsung.

In 2017, Samsung acquired Harman International. Harman makes high fidelity audio products under many brand names such as AKG, AMX, Becker, Crown, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, dbx, DigiTech, Mark Levinson, Martin, Revel, Soundcraft, Studer, Arcam, Bang & Olufsen and BSS Audio.