YG acoustics sold to LK capital

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ben

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Another high end speaker brand sold to private equity firm.

Source: absolute sound
 
Very interesting. They had zero presence at Munich. A real shock. I knew something was up.


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Even in US their dealer network is small. I visit various audio forums daily and hardly see anyone talking abt YG. It seems like it's going Avalon and eggglestonworks way.
 
[FONT=&quot]Yoav remains a core owner and partner in the company, and will now be able to fully focus on his life’s work and passion - pushing the edge of the art in design, research and development of ultra-high-end loudspeakers.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Yoav Geva remarked: “The partnership process was incredibly transparent and a testament to our future working relationship. To be able to partner with Steve Foreman and David Komatz as our highly experienced professional CEO, we will be able to continue YG Acoustics’ growth. I’m excited to focus on our ongoing research and development of new technologies; I’ll finally get to spend more time inventing, and less time running the business.”[/FONT]
 
I am, not sure why this is viewed as a negative.

Yoav is very much a co-owner and has an injection of capital.

YG had a large presence at the Hong Kong show using Solution gear.


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Silly to view this as negative. Mr. YG is the most gifted loudspeaker loudspeaker designer today. The Sonja XV is far more impressive than the WAMM or anything from Magico. In 15 years wether or not you like their speakers or not. YG is probably one of the top 3 loudspeaker manufactures in the world today.
 
YG doesn't do Munich because the German distributor has a history with the organizers of the show, and doesn't want to give them business. That's all.

There was a YG Sonja 1.3 in the SME booth, being used with Nagra HD amps.

Michael Framer seemed to like what he heard:

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/sme-makes-first-high-end-munich-appearance-27-years

"Despite the "pod" venue, the sound was among the best I heard at the show."

 
XV-1 said:
I am, not sure why this is viewed as a negative.

Yoav is very much a co-owner and has an injection of capital.

YG had a large presence at the Hong Kong show using Solution gear.
Click to expand...

Because he has injection of capital that not means he will get to make the final business decision. Investment firm buys the company to make a profit and they are not really passionate abt the product. I liked what Conrad Johnson did. Instead selling the company to some investment firm they passed the company to long term employee who knows the company, culture, and products. Thiel, Krell are perfect examples of what happen to companies when some VC, PE firms take over and ruin the brands. Most times its not a good sign.
 
mdp632 said:
Silly to view this as negative. Mr. YG is the most gifted loudspeaker loudspeaker designer today. The Sonja XV is far more impressive than the WAMM or anything from Magico. In 15 years wether or not you like their speakers or not. YG is probably one of the top 3 loudspeaker manufactures in the world today.
Click to expand...

Seriously? How? Sound is subjective.
 
You never know if it's a positive or negative when it happens. Sometimes its the only way a company can stay in business - sometimes its for extra capital to expand and do research to take it to new highs - sometimes its just because somebody wants to cash out and make money.

Only time will tell. Change is always suspect, usually its same ol same ol tho.
 
ben said:
Because he has injection of capital that not means he will get to make the final business decision. Investment firm buys the company to make a profit and they are not really passionate abt the product. I liked what Conrad Johnson did. Instead selling the company to some investment firm they passed the company to long term employee who knows the company, culture, and products. Thiel, Krell are perfect examples of what happen to companies when some VC, PE firms take over and ruin the brands. Most times its not a good sign.
Click to expand...

Really? Where did you read that? investment firms have no interest except for profit. Do you have any information about LK investments, the way it runs its business and the partnership with Yoav?

Private investment seems to work pretty good for ARC/McIntosh/Sonus faber. Bill Johnson had ARC for sale for some time due to his age and the employees seemed to have no interest in buying/investing.

Thiel - Jim Thiel passed away 3 years before the sell off to an investment firm. Krell - the investment firm sacked Dan D. no surprise these have not been a success.

I like what conrad johnson has done as well.
 
First, the company was acquired by LK Capital *AND* Yoav Geva. He kept a significant financial interest in the company.

Then, LK Capital won't be running the company. A professional CEO was chosen, and he'll run the business end of things, while Yoav handles the product development. I don't see what the "I wonder what that will mean here in the U.S." question...? The products will continue to be made the same way, by the same folks, at the same Arvada, CO factory.

Most companies have 2, 3 even 4 people doing the job that Yoav did by himself. Those who know the company and the people behind it can see the benefit of this new focus for Yoav, and I'm sure we'll see the fruits of that soon enough.



cheers,
alex
 
Tend to agree with some of the statements here, that purely from the information available it is difficult to predict what will happen. Three key questions need to be asked:

First question IMO is why was the capital injected. Was it to save YG from peril because they were losing money or to simply to establish a better financial base for stronger int'l growth.

Second question is why did Yoav Geva stay on. Is it because he had to and the VC wanted to ensure he has skin in the game while they melk the cow. Or is it that he is now just getting started and has more freedom to challenge the boundaries of the art more freely with the VC funds and a commercial CEO in place.

Third question is what the new CEO will do market-wise. One option is to remain in the top hi-end niche and another to drive YG stronger into the lower hi-end price points to grow revenues through volume.

Together the answers will IMO help determine whether this was good or bad for YG as a hi-end LS manufacturer.


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I think the partial sale was to do just what the article says. Allow Yoav to spend more time advancing his products. I doubt very much it's due to lack of money or some kind of bail out. If anything I would think the opposite.
YG wait time is now up to 6 six weeks on new speakers (any model) they have worked multiple shifts to keep up with orders for quite some time now. Having visited YG on several occasions, it's easy to see Yoav is deeply involved in every area of the business. I hope this allows him some breathing room.
 
Only time will tell. I hope they have success in their new business arrangement.
 
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