Gibson Guitars has announced that it's bought a majority stake in Japanese electronics firm TEAC for a not inconsiderable price of $52 million.
TEAC is probably best known for its hi-fi products and other consumer electronics, but of more interest to music-making types is pro audio subsidiary firm Tascam, which produces a range of portastudios, handheld recorders, audio interfaces and microphones.
The move follows Gibson's purchase of another Japanese consumer electronics firm, Onkyo, in January last year and is expected to offer mutual benefits to both firms in terms of US marketing and distribution.
Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz said this press-friendly nugget:
"We are delighted to welcome TEAC and its talented employees to the Gibson family. We have both known each other for a long time and share a vision for the future: bringing together world-class engineering and technical innovation in the audio space with the world's premier musical instrument manufacturer, and the capability to market music innovation on a global scale."
That's the boring stuff. We're most interested in the possibilities in terms of the Tascam, Teac and Gibson product lines and what the resulting shared expertise may produce.
We expect at the very least to see some Gibson-branded consumer audio gear emerge down the line, but who knows what innovations the Gibson R&D team may have up its sleeve on the pro audio/instrument side. Robot guitar-haters, beware.
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