Pioneer sells DJ business for $550 million

By
published

Following on from the news that Pioneer is selling its AV division to Onkyo, the company has now announced it's offloading its range of DJ products in a deal with a private equity firm.

Last week we heard the news of the sale of Pioneer's AV business to Onkyo and now, as widely expected, the Japanese company has announced plans to also sell its DJ products business.

Pioneer's DJ range, which includes turntables, mixers and studio monitors, will be renamed Pioneer DJ and sold to private equity firm KKR & Co LP for around 59 billion yen ($550 million).

Pioneer will retain a 14.95 per cent voting stake in the new company, as it has done with the sale of its AV division. The core company will now focus on its car audio business.

MORE: Technics returns with high-end hi-fi

Susumu Kotani, chief executive and president of Pioneer, said: "We're trying to transform our auto-related business and are investing a lot into that and realised we had to concentrate our resources.

"We realised we wouldn't be able to invest in the DJ business so it would be better to spin it off and grow it independently."

Pioneer has a 60 per cent share of the global DJ market, with sales of around 21.6 billion yen for the year ending 31st March.

The company also expects to take further action to cut company costs and make significant savings, including plans to move more manufacturing outside of Japan.

See all Pioneer reviews, news and products

Joe Cox
Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).