Pioneer Selling Its Home A/V Electronics Subsidiary

Rumors have been floating around for a while now, but as of June 24th, Pioneer has officially announced that it will be selling a 51% stake in Pioneer Home Electronics Corp. to Baring Private Equity Asia. But wait, it gets better: in addition to this majority stake, Pioneer is also selling shares of its home A/V business to rival Onkyo Corp. The primary reason cited for the sale is simple: declining demand. As money dries up in the home A/V business, the company is finding it harder to justify development expenses for that market.

What does all this mean to you? Not a whole lot at this time. New home A/V products will continue to roll out under the Pioneer brand name including Dolby Atmos compatible A/V receivers. News is also on the horizon that we will see Pioneer Elite branded loudspeakers designed by Andrew Jones boasting concentric drivers and an up-firing drive unit for Dolby Atmos effects. Given the new products in the pipeline, we feel it safe to say that the company is neither dead nor dying at this time.

However, while it should be relatively seamless for consumers, this shift does have important implications behind the scenes. Pioneer will now be free to dedicate resources to its mobile audio division, which currently accounts for ~70% of its sales currently. Meanwhile, the alliance with Onkyo means joint procurement of parts and better logistical efficiency. With any luck, this sale should end up with Pioneer Home Electronics emerging as a stronger, leaner competitor.