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KKR to Buy Pioneer DJ
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KKR to Buy Pioneer DJ

Owl G 7:01 AM - 16 September, 2014
For about 560,000,000 USD according to this --> ca.reuters.com

Thoughts?
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Pioneer says to sell DJ equipment business to KKR for $550 million

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese car electronics maker Pioneer Corp (6773.T: Quote) said on Tuesday that it would sell its disc-jockey equipment business to private equity firm KKR & Co LP (KKR.N: Quote) for about 59 billion yen($550 million).

Pioneer has been selling off non-core assets to focus on its automotive electronics business. On Friday, the company said it would sell its home audio-visual business to audio equipment maker Onkyo Corp (6628.T: Quote).

Pioneer said that it expects a 55 billion yen special profit from the sale of the DJ equipment business and that it may revise its earnings forecast.
Taipanic 6:52 PM - 16 September, 2014
President Susumu Kotani said: "Our business selling DJ equipment would have required large amounts of investment to continue to grow, and we can't afford to invest in it while also seeking to grow our (Pioneer’s) in-car electronics operations."

Will be interesting to see where this goes. Will potential investors be willing to invest heavy capitol to further their technology & hardware or will they be sold off for the name recognition to be used to market rebranded equipment.
Mr. Goodkat 6:58 PM - 16 September, 2014
weird to think they went all in on car stereo products. must be an asian or euro thing. i can't see car stereo could be that profitable in the u.s.
Taipanic 8:11 PM - 16 September, 2014
Quote:
weird to think they went all in on car stereo products. must be an asian or euro thing. i can't see car stereo could be that profitable in the u.s.


Note they are talking about providing car audio for manufacturers like GM & Honda, not making single DIN units for Crutchfield to hawk.
Jumbo Boogie 8:19 PM - 16 September, 2014
Quote:
weird to think they went all in on car stereo products. must be an asian or euro thing. i can't see car stereo could be that profitable in the u.s.

Supposedly they supply OEM factory electronics for GM.
woody008 3:35 AM - 17 September, 2014
Get ready for crappy Pioneer products.
DJSCIASCIA 3:54 AM - 17 September, 2014
The next round of cdjs and other products that were already in development will prob be decent. After that it's anyone's guess but it's prob not gonna look good. I can see pioneer going down the tubes.
Owl G 3:58 AM - 17 September, 2014
Sigh. Many will be happy because, I'm assuming, that this means further acceleration into the mobile DJing era. Not that we aren't already there.

Any realistic chance that there is still attention on turntables etc.? I know the RELOOPs are still getting a lot of attention at conventions. But will the "old school" products/services be phased out? (I understand DVS is not old school nor analog)

Again, without any knowledge as to what KKR will do I'm under the assumption that the main purpose is to push product and awareness rather than preserve any history. And that's sad.
Taipanic 2:19 PM - 17 September, 2014
Quote:
The next round of cdjs and other products that were already in development will prob be decent. After that it's anyone's guess but it's prob not gonna look good. I can see pioneer going down the tubes.


It could go either way, sometimes being bought by an Investment Group will bring in additional resources and a more focused output and product as the entity needs to be solely profitable and successful.
Joee 5:10 PM - 17 September, 2014
KKR? do they currently make anything audio related?
Dj-M.Bezzle 5:41 PM - 17 September, 2014
Quote:
KKR? do they currently make anything audio related?

no, the buy companys, break them up and sell the pieces.

I wonder how the powers that be at serato feel about this, they had an exclusive deal with Rane that produced the best software in the game with some of the best hardware, then they see traktor breathe life into the controller market and since Rane dosent make controllers, serato gives Rane the finger, shuts down its best product and shits out an inbred version of it just to get in bed with pioneer......now pioneers about to go down the shitter so wheres that leave serato....is it gonna partner up with numark full time?
Joee 5:47 PM - 17 September, 2014
Quote:
no, the buy companys, break them up and sell the pieces.

I wonder how the powers that be at serato feel about this, they had an exclusive deal with Rane that produced the best software in the game with some of the best hardware, then they see traktor breathe life into the controller market and since Rane dosent make controllers, serato gives Rane the finger, shuts down its best product and shits out an inbred version of it just to get in bed with pioneer......now pioneers about to go down the shitter so wheres that leave serato....is it gonna partner up with numark full time?

sounds like pioneer is gonna go to sh!t, we'll see
Certified Quality Entertainment 5:58 PM - 17 September, 2014
Very interesting. I wonder how quick this will happen for us end consumers to feel the impact. Positive or negative.

Could be a big door opening for Numark, Rane and Denon. I know Denon has some issues as well, but they were big enough and probably 2nd to Pioneer for a long time. If pioneer really does go to crap b/c of this, who is going to step up to the plate to be industry standard. Denon has always made solid products in my opinion. I love my SX, but if Denon made a larger controller bigger than the 6000 I would have jumped on that as I have always been a denon fan.
djsmuve415 6:30 PM - 17 September, 2014
you guys are all trippin' if you think this is going to make a dent into whether or not Pioneer stays a club industry standard for quite some time... there is already TONS and TONS of their gear sitting in clubs and lounges with DJ booths all around the world. I've gone to bars that still have a 1000 mk1 still sitting there covered in booze and dust and shit being used. I mean what the hell else can they to do to a Nexus for gods sakes to make it any better at this point.
MPC O.G. 6:36 PM - 17 September, 2014
Quote:
Quote:
KKR? do they currently make anything audio related?

no, the buy companys, break them up and sell the pieces.

I wonder how the powers that be at serato feel about this, they had an exclusive deal with Rane that produced the best software in the game with some of the best hardware, then they see traktor breathe life into the controller market and since Rane dosent make controllers, serato gives Rane the finger, shuts down its best product and shits out an inbred version of it just to get in bed with pioneer......now pioneers about to go down the shitter so wheres that leave serato....is it gonna partner up with numark full time?

yep! Remember....dance with who brung you. With that being said I would love a Rane mixer I could use with ANY DVS. It would be great if you could buy the mixer and buy connectivity to the DVS of your choice. Maybe the same way you would use I-lok.
Detroitbootybass 8:44 PM - 17 September, 2014
Wow.

That will change the landscape.

And what will become of Serato? They had a cozy beau in Rane, but sashayed into bed with a flashy hottie in Pioneer. Now they find out that new partner has a raging drug habit and will never be able to commit in the way Serato had hoped. Do they go tail-between-their-legs back to Rane or decide to slum it with the likes of Numark?
Joee 8:48 PM - 17 September, 2014
Quote:
Do they go tail-between-their-legs back to Rane or decide to slum it with the likes of Numark?

they probably go back to rane & say something like because of overwhelming response we have decided to bring back scrathLive or just move forward with serato dj
djcrap 3:32 PM - 18 September, 2014
I wouldnt mind continuing with scratch live as a paid upgrade
Papa Midnight 5:50 PM - 18 September, 2014
Quote:
I wonder how the powers that be at serato feel about this, they had an exclusive deal with Rane that produced the best software in the game with some of the best hardware, then they see traktor breathe life into the controller market and since Rane dosent make controllers, serato gives Rane the finger, shuts down its best product and shits out an inbred version of it just to get in bed with pioneer......now pioneers about to go down the shitter so wheres that leave serato....is it gonna partner up with numark full time?

What executive meeting did you sit in on that gave you such intimate knowledge of Serato's product management and decision making with regards to it's corporate future?

This thread isn't even two-dozen post deep and it's already ridiculous.
Mr. Goodkat 6:06 PM - 18 September, 2014
seems pretty like a pretty logical conclusion by bez.
Papa Midnight 6:29 PM - 18 September, 2014
Quote:
seems pretty like a pretty logical conclusion by bez.


Quote:
serato gives Rane the finger, shuts down its best product and shits out an inbred version of it just to get in bed with pioneer


I'm not seeing it, especially when Serato worked to bring compatibility for Rane products into Serato DJ -- an undertaking which sought to unify it's code-base, provide one application for all supported products, and has had a comparatively faster development cycle.

At this point, statements like that which is quoted above are really just subjective opinion.
Dj-M.Bezzle 7:09 PM - 18 September, 2014
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Quote:
seems pretty like a pretty logical conclusion by bez.


Quote:
serato gives Rane the finger, shuts down its best product and shits out an inbred version of it just to get in bed with pioneer


I'm not seeing it, especially when Serato worked to bring compatibility for Rane products into Serato DJ -- an undertaking which sought to unify it's code-base, provide one application for all supported products, and has had a comparatively faster development cycle.

At this point, statements like that which is quoted above are really just subjective opinion.



Not subjective at all, its a well known fact that Rane had an exclusive deal with serato in regards to scratch live which is what led to there being multiple codes in which to unify in the first place, cmon son, you dont think its obvious that they created it to look just like SL and pretty much did the exact same thing but the only difference (besides adding a ton of bugs and taking a huge step backwards) is that it worked with pioneer and numark hardware? You dont think its a lil odd that around this time rane made their own forum as well, and do you remember what happened around the time serato and rane were to reup their contracts?
Dj-M.Bezzle 7:11 PM - 18 September, 2014
Quote:
has had a comparatively faster development cycle.

Says who? As far as I can tell the only thing that sped up are the updates and thats because they stopped fixing bugs
4mydawgz 7:45 PM - 18 September, 2014
this makes me not wanna get the DDJ SX2 when it drops. Having an investment firm run the company means its gonna be $$$$ or quality.