Voxx’s Premium Audio Co. (PAC) subsidiary and Sharp completed the purchase of assets of Onkyo Home Entertainment Corp.’s audio/video business (see 2105030054) Wednesday for $30.8 million. Terms also included assumption of liabilities and future commission payments to Onkyo on certain product sales, said the companies Thursday. PAC owns about 77% of the joint venture, Sharp about 23%, they said. With the acquisition of the Onkyo and Integra brands now complete -- and with a new global licensing agreement with Pioneer in place outside China -- PAC will focus on "leveraging its strong retail relationships and distribution channels." Sharp will focus on scaling its manufacturing lines and managing the supply chain, "to handle more anticipated production volume." They expect FY 2022 sales to be about $50 million, with several orders already secured. Voxx CEO Pat Lavelle said “consumer demand is high” for the Onkyo and Pioneer brands. Voxx believes it can “rebuild the distribution network quickly, leveraging the relationships built over several decades,” with Sharp as a "world-class manufacturer.”
PayPal will pay $2.7 billion to buy Paidy, a provider of buy now, pay later solutions in Japan, said the buyer Tuesday. This will expand PayPal's domestic payments presence in Japan, the No. 3 e-commerce market behind China and the U.S., it said. Paidy will continue to operate its own business and maintain its brand, it said. The transaction is expected to close in Q4.
Sony Interactive Entertainment agreed to buy Firesprite, a U.K.-based videogame studio, it said Wednesday. Sony's 14th studio purchase lets the gaming subsidiary expand its catalog beyond PlayStation Studios’ core offerings, it said. Firesprite “pushed the boundaries” of interaction with the PS VR headset with a social element in The Persistence; an enhanced version, launched in June, optimized the game for PlayStation 5 to include wireless controller haptic feedback, adaptive triggers and raytraced rendering, Sony said. Day-to-day operations will continue to be run by Firesprite management.
Be "wary" of media transactions that consolidate intellectual property, the American Antitrust Institute and Public Knowledge wrote acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Powers Thursday, pointing to the pending WarnerMedia/Discovery deal. "Some degree of familiarity (a sequel, reboot, or a spinoff) is among the strongest indicators of market success," and new studios aren't likely to easily enter the market, they said. They said AT&T's spinoff of WarnerMedia three years after its Time Warner acquisition "tells a cautionary story."
Amazon’s proposed $8.45 billion MGM buy (see 2105260061) “is not simply a one-off deal for streaming content,” but the latest move in Amazon’s “overarching strategy to create numerous interconnected points of dominance over businesses and consumers,” nearly three dozen organizations wrote FTC Chair Lina Khan and the other commissioners Tuesday, urging them to block the transaction. If the deal goes through, consumers “will be more forcefully pushed into subscribing” to Amazon Prime Video because more content will be exclusive to the service, “rather than being available across many platforms,” said the groups. Amazon also could “destroy rivals to its Fire TV products by denying other streaming platforms access to its content,” they said. Amazon’s control over the intellectual property for MGM content would allow it to “further exert leverage over its e-commerce platform” by forcing competitors “to prioritize Amazon content and product placement within non-Amazon products in exchange for access to content or IP rights,” they said. “We urge the FTC to halt this deal and to continue to investigate Amazon’s broad abuse of its ecosystem.” An Amazon spokesperson declined comment on the letter. He cited past Amazon statements that competition for content is “already intense,” and that the MGM buy “will help to strengthen this competition and provide even more choice to consumers.”
Valens Semiconductor, originator of the HDBaseT high-speed connectivity standard for home theater and autonomous vehicles, said the SEC declared effective its registration statement to combine with special purpose acquisition company PTK and take itself public on the New York Stock Exchange. A special meeting of PTK's shareholders is Sept. 28 to ratify the $1.16 billion combination, which was first announced in May (see 2105250023). Valens still expects the transaction to close by fall, it said Monday.
Chinese antitrust authorities cleared the Analog Devices acquisition of chipmaker Maxim, said the buyer Monday. The all-stock transaction is expected to close by Thursday, it said. Analog Devices announced the Maxim buy in July 2020. It will schedule a conference call after the close to update investors on its "capital return plans," said Chief Financial Officer Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah last week.
Adobe will spend $1.275 billion to acquire Frame.io, the cloud-based video collaboration platform that claims more than a million media and entertainment company users globally, reported the buyer Thursday. Combining Adobe’s “creative software” with Frame.io’s “review and approval functionality” will enable a collaboration platform that enhances video editing, it said. The transaction is expected to close during Adobe’s fiscal Q4 ending early January.
Echo Systems, with offices in Omaha and Kansas City, acquired Texas-based Dallas Sight and Sound, it emailed Wednesday. In addition to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, the 37-year-old technology integration company serves the North Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana markets. Both retailers are part of CEDIA and the Guild Integrators Alliance. The acquisition will broaden Echo Systems’ reach and depth of resources, it said. Terms weren’t disclosed.
Vital Management, founded by Paul Starkey and Steve Firszt, sold its coaching company to a group led by custom integration industry veterans Matt Bernath, who was with Vital for two years, and Jeremy Burkhardt, it emailed Wednesday. Vital Management, which supports custom installation businesses with process, practices and people deployment methods, is rebranding as Vital. Starkey and Firszt will continue working with key clients and remain as advisers to Vital’s board “indefinitely,” they said.