Bowers & Wilkins CEO resigns, restructuring expert appointed

[RaceCarDriver]

https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/bow...pert-appointed

Gideon Yu, the ex-Facebook CFO who led Eva Automation's shock acquisition of B&W in 2016, has left Bowers & Wilkins, according to company filings. Gregory Lee, who was made CEO at the end of 2019, also appears to have resigned from that role.

David Duggins has been appointed as a director of B&W Group. Duggins describes himself as a, "restructuring professional available for Board or Advisory roles in companies undergoing restructuring, re-financing or sale".

Yu and his Silicon Valley start-up, Eva Automation, were widely seen as the final piece in the jigsaw for the completion and launch of B&W's Formation wireless range, with the company helping to push the high-end system over the line following the surprise acquisition.

[RaceCarDriver]

https://www.channelnews.com.au/bw-fa...o-restructure/

Senior management at Bowers & Wilkins Australia were not told that global directors had quit the UK Company or that a turnaround operator had been appointed as CEO.

According to Philip Newton the CEO of Bowers & Wilkins Australian operation the first that local management knew of the changes was when he was contacted by ChannelNews.

Newton a former Vice President at Samsung was appointed by Gregory Lee a former President at Samsung in Korea who took over as CEO of the British sound Company who according to Newton has been witnessing significant growth of late following the release of a new B&W networked speaker range and new headphones that are attracting “rave” reviews.

The Guardian newspaper recently described the Companies new PX 7 as superior to the Bose noise cancelling headphones.

Also, out at B&W is Gideon Yu, the ex-Facebook CFO who acquired B&W back in 2016 via Eva Automation.

The Company is now being run by David Duggins who was recently appointed as a director of B&W Group.

Duggins is a “restructuring professional available for Board or Advisory roles in companies undergoing restructuring, re-financing or sale”.

ChannelNews understands that Lee is still involved with the Company and is working to raise a new capital injection for the Company.

Back in 2016 when Yu’s EVA Automation company took over B&W money was invested in trying to take on Sonos in the networked speaker market.

This investment resulted in the Company releasing the Formation range of speakers.

The release of these speakers was delayed at one stage with many questionings why B&W needed a proprietary operating system when brands were moving to voice activated speakers running on Google or Amazon voice engines linked to brand developed apps.

Bowers & Wilkins duly released its Formation Suite of wireless speakers in April 2019 adding the Flex speaker towards the end of the year.

As well as the Flex speakers the Company also invested in launching the PX ANC headphones including the highly rated PX7.

They also built a relationship with Philips and TP Vision where B&W provided surround sound speaker functionality for Philips’s top end OLED+ 984 TV.

This has continued with their 2020 OLED range featuring new Bowers & Wilkins speakers with the possibility that these new TV’s could be released in Australia this year.

[Cohibaman]

Hmmmm....

IMG_0295.jpg

[piolaxo]

Originally Posted by Cohibaman

Hmmmm....

Attachment 61499

Exactly my thoughts.

[PeterMusic]

I have no info on this particular situation, but as a private equity investor, I've seen this movie before--Yu persuaded his investors that they should pay a premium for B&W because the Formation series would bring hifi back to the golden days of decades past, marrying digital convenience with uncompromising sound, and thus transforming a boutique supplier to high end mass market provider--$$$. Alas, it was not so easy--revenue targets missed by a mile, and now the investors are wondering why they didn't license the technology broadly a'la Roon. So they boot the passionate guys, and hire someone strictly focused on the bottom line. Don't expect a flood of new products in 2021 from Worthing. Sad

[miner]

Why not stay focused on what they were good at......audiophile reproduction of music via sources? A once leading company is now a possible fire sale waiting to happen. Maybe George Lucas can step in and become a majority owner.

[damacman]

Because that's not how these boneheads think. They think they're infinitely smarter than the consumer - they aren't.

[gadawg]

Hopefully the "finance" guy they bring in to hit the numbers won't ruin the company as they so often do ...

George

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by gadawg

Hopefully the "finance" guy they bring in to hit the numbers won't ruin the company as they so often do ...

George

I wouldn't hold your breath on that one; these guys will all be looking to get out while losing as little money as possible. That's why they bring in these types of guys in the first place; the execs want a way to cash out.

[joey_v]

sad