Harman International
Harman International Industries, Inc., commonly known as Harman (stylized as HARMAN), is an American audio electronics company.[3] Since 2017, the company has been operating as an independent subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.[4]
Company type
Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, US, it has its own executive leadership team.[5] Harman maintains major operations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Harman markets its products under various brands, including AKG, AMX, Arcam,[6] Bang & Olufsen Automotive, Becker, BSS Audio, Crown, dbx, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Martin, Revel, and Soundcraft.
Early history[edit]
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.[7]
Private equity attempt[edit]
Harman International Industries was to delist from NYSE in Q3/2007 due to a buy-out by KKR and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.[23] However, as of mid September 2007, KKR announced they would back out of the deal.
Coincident with the buy-out deal, Dinesh Paliwal was hired as company president and CEO in July 2007. On July 1 2008, Sidney Harman was succeeded by Dinesh Paliwal as chairman of the board.[24] In April 2020 he was succeeded by Michael Mauser.[25]