Samsung has finalized the process involved in the acquisition of major audio Harman. According to sources, Harman shareholders will be eligible to receive $112 per share in cash. Meanwhile, the acquisition has been approved by shareholders after a stiff opposition initially when the deal was announced in November 2016. The company also obtained all the required approvals by the US and the regulatory bodies of other countries.
The interesting fact is that the current CEO of Harman Dinesh Paliwal will continue even after the acquisition. The company will function as a subsidiary of Samsung. Meanwhile, Young Sohn, who is the Chief Strategy Officer of Samsung Electronics will look into the affairs of the Harman operations. The current employees of Harman can have a sigh of relief since Samsung will not perform any layoffs and will retain all staffs. Moreover, there will not be any changes to the headquarters location and other facilities.
Commenting on the development, Sohn disclosed that the acquisition of Harman would enable Samsung to open the door to create a wide range of growth opportunities. It also delivers enhanced benefits for customers across the world. With the help of products manufactured by Harman, we will be able to build connected environment in our home and office.
Responding to media, Dinesh Paliwal, HARMAN President, and CEO added that his team is excited to merge with Samsung. The deal will provide an excellent value to not only to our stockholders but also to customers and employees in the form of new opportunities.
With the whole process involved with the acquisition of Harman is completed, the stocks of the company will be delisted from New York Stock Exchange with effect from March 13, 2017.
With the acquisition of Harman, Samsung will most likely integrate their audio technology into the next generation Samsung Galaxy smartphones. You can expect Harman-certified speakers in the Samsung Galaxy S9 expected to hit markets in 2018.
