Pioneer Corporation is considering getting out of the DJ business by selling its remaining stake in Pioneer DJ, according to Japanese financial websites, Nikkei Business among others.
The company previously sold in 2015 over 85% of its DJ subsidiary to investment firm KKR & Co, and preserving the others 15%. But now both parties are considering offloading the entire Pioneer DJ stock to new buyers, the sale expected to fetch between $540 million and $630 million, and would mark Pioneer Corporation’s exit from the DJ market entirely.
The DJ ancillary had sales of over $200 million in 2018, and controls between 60 and 70% of the global share in DJ mixers, turntables and other products according to Nikkei Asian Review. They recently dropped both the SQUID 16-track hardware sequencer and DDJ-800 controller in April alone.
The separate Pioneer Corporation, meanwhile, is currently restructuring and was recently bailed out by Baring Private Equity Asia, a Hong Kong buyout firm, to the tune of $930 million. Japan Times reports that the deal involved laying off 3,000 employees, which amounts to some 15% of company’s total workforce. Stay tuned…
H/T Resident Advisor