Gibson Brands Inc. files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

The latest sad news:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/05/gibson-guitars-file-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy.html

As a fan of Philips/WOOX/Gibson/Onkyo products, I started to look into their business in more detail out of curiosity last year, and came across this:

https://www.thestreet.com/story/142...ault-if-company-can-t-refinance-its-debt.html

and this:

http://variety.com/2017/music/news/gibson-guitars-memphis-factory-for-sale-1202595684/

And if we go back a bit further:

http://cdm.link/2017/11/gibson-just-killed-cakewalk-philips/

http://www.toiletovhell.com/gibson-killing-cakewalk-money/

A lot of brands are potentially impacted by this... In 2014 Philips sold their WOOX Innovations division (audio, video, multimedia, and accessories) to Gibson. And then Gibson has been on a buying spree, acquiring controlling interests in a constellation of companies that impact brands such as Philips, TEAC, Onkyo, Pioneer, Cerwin Vega, Stanton, KRK Systems, Baldwin Piano...

Best wishes to everyone involved, and I hope the talented folks negatively impacted by this business stupidity find a new job soon.

 

wow that is a mess, half a billion in debt. They really do not know what they are doing. Could mean the end of lot of names. Some chinese conglomerate may pick up pieces of teac, pioneer, or onkyo but that is a big maybe. Could be all their brands die.

 

Anybody who as ever worked there in the corporate office (including myself) could see this coming a mile away and wonder why it has not happened sooner.

 

Not surprised after reading how badly managed they have been. It was effecting their products too

http://gawker.com/gibson-guitar-is-a-remarkably-unpopular-company-1713072808

 

The names will probably be sold off for chump change and then there will be a plague of zombie brands...

 

One wonders how anybody can be so blind-stupid. Hey-ho, I suppose Messrs Dunning and Kruger have the answer

 

The names of companies that Henry has killed is miles (kilometers for you metrics) long.

• Slingerland
• Steinberger
• Dobro
• Tobias
• Valley Arts
• Maestro
• Garrison
• Opcode
• Cakewalk

Not too long ago they bought

• TEAC/Tascam/Esoteric
• Onkyo/Pioneer
• KRK
• Cerwin Vega
• Stanton
• Phillips (Royal Phillips)

Not to mention that Gibson owns Epiphone, Baldwin, and all the other piano spin offs (Hamiliton, Chickering, Wurlitzer).

The press release lays the blame on the tech products, but they were in way trouble before that.

 

Maybe that explains why @musiqlovr was so quiet the last two months...very sad

Stupid corporate greediness, now some chinese corporate group will buy everything for 300 argentine pesos

 

Actually, I think now someone might own the brands and do something great with them that they deserve. This might be a good thing in the long run.

 

That's a possibility, but IMO, a very small one.