Who is buying Pioneer DJ? No, not who’s buying Pioneer DJ gear – that’s you lot, in droves it seems – but Pioneer DJ itself. Yup, the Pioneer corporation – better known until the late 80s for its car stereos, before storming the DJ booth with the invention of the CDJ – is selling its DJ division for a reported $570m, to get back to its core business. What’s more, the sale is in its “final stages”, according to reports in a Reuters news article and independently from another industry source to us today.
So the big question is: Who’s buying? Who’s got that frankly staggering amount of cash? Have Calvin Harris, Tiesto and Avicii pooled their Highest Paid DJ earnings and bagged a bank loan to do the deal? Will it be an all-American homecoming, with Tomorrowland and Electric Zoo EDM promoter SFX Entertainment – fresh from its purchase of Beatport – putting in an 11th hour bid for the Japanese brand? Maybe Serato, bank account bulging from selling gazillions of $29 Serato Flip expansion packs, wants to sensationally splash the loot in an audacious move for DJ world dominance?
Now of course, chances are it’ll be a pension fund or private equity group buying Pioneer DJ; it appears that while the parent company has been making redundancies and posting losses, Pioneer DJ – which has in recent years expanded its CDJ and mixer range to cover digital DJ controllers and even a turntable – is actually profitable. Being serious for a second, this would be comforting news for the company’s DJ customers (at least in the short term) as it would indicate business as usual.
But with the DJ world rapidly consolidating into mega-brands, what next? NI to buy Technics? Digital DJ Tips to make an audacious bid for Acapellas4u? Richie Hawtin to buy Ean Golden? We can’t possibly comment at this time on any of these rumours, but be sure to watch this space to find out…
UPDATE: Pioneer confirmed today in a statement that it is indeed considering the sale of the DJ side of its business, but denied that a decision has been made and refused to make any further comment at this time.
Who’s buying Pioneer? What might a sale of the brand mean for its DJ customers? Who’s the car stereo boss anyway, Pioneer or Alpine? Let us know your thoughts in the comments…
Phil Morse
