Re: Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A
Dear Greg, this is a very good comment.
There are two key differences between those acquisitions and our partnering with Midas Klark Teknik.
First, if you want to retain the integrity of a brand you must maintain the substance of that brand. In our view, the substance is much more than the technology, or the product models or the name. It is the people who make a brand and from what we have seen this is where many have gone astray. Acquiring companies often install their own managers and soon destroy the very substance of the acquired brands.
The other way we differ is in the strict financial arrangement of our acquisition of Midas and Klark Teknik. While most acquiring companies look at their acquisitions as an opportunity to reduce cost and increase profit, we are very different.
We have invested more than $20 million in Midas and will continue to invest because we are in this for the long term. Our interest isn't in pulling profits out of the business but rather building it to its potential. We're not buying businesses to resell them; we're buying to build them.
We just acquired a large building in Manchester to allow Midas to expand seven fold versus current size. We hired over 20 new engineers last year and are adding around 30 more high-caliber PHD’s, DSP and FPGA engineers plus technology visionaries to establish the most sophisticated Research center in our industry in order to get the whole Group to a new level.
I have ultimate respect for the Midas people as these are the most brilliant engineers I have ever met in my life. In fact I am very excited to see how much the Behringer organization has been able to learn from Midas to the extent that I can honestly say that Midas has actually transformed Behringer.
The new X32 digital mixing console is proof of it as it is the direct result of this fantastic collaboration.
Furthermore we just hired Mark Harman Powell who is a legendary industrial designer and who worked for BMW, Jaguar, JBL etc. Mark is in charge of building a cutting-edge Design Center of Excellence to provide designs for the whole Music Group.
The Midas acquisition has been a true step change both on the technology and design side as well when it comes to manufacturing quality standards. In return the Music Group has been able to help the Midas team with additional resources through our shared service center to allow them to focus even more on technology and great products.
I have reached out to Richard Ferriday, Midas brand manager, to share his experience and view. He is currently traveling and will respond when he is back.
