Harman International

HARMAN is an international developer of integrated products and solutions for retail consumers, automakers and enterprises, including automotive network systems, audio, visual and infotainment systems, enterprise automation solutions, and IoT services .

Бренды HARMAN: AKG, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson и Revel. HARMAN offers integration technologies and services in automotive, mobile, telecommunications and enterprise automation markets. More than 50 million vehicles worldwide are equipped with HARMAN audio systems and networking solutions. The company's software supports billions of mobile devices and systems at home and at work, in the car and on the go.

HARMAN employs about 30,000 people in the Americas, Europe and Asia. In March 2017, HARMAN became a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.

Business in Russia

• Harman Connected Services Nizhny Novgorod (LLC Harman) - specializes in custom software development.

History

2023: Russian audio system maker Drivix wins Harman trial in technology copying case

On September 28, 2023, the Intellectual Rights Court overturned the decision of the court of first instance and sent for a new trial a patent infringement case between the Russian representative office of the American company Harman and the Russian company Drivix. We are talking about a dispute related to sales of music systems with vertical design. Read more here.

2022: Purchase of MR Apostera Systems Developer

On February 10, 2022, Harman International, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, bought the Ukrainian developer of mixed reality systems Apostera. The parties did not disclose the details of the deal, but at the end of 2021, investors valued the company at €40-50 million. Read more here.

2021: JBL Fake Products Fight Year's Results

On December 27, 2021, HARMAN shared the results of 2021. For the fifth year in a row, the company has been fighting the sale of counterfeit goods in Russia under the JBL brand. From January to October 2021, the manufacturer and its partners discovered 1,145 facts of illegal trade in an offline environment, as well as 3,353 links to online platforms selling fake JBL headphones and speakers. During this period, the court satisfied 741 claims in favor of the copyright holder with a total compensation of 18,261,395 rubles. Read more here.

2020

Results of the year in the fight against fake JBL products

On December 24, 2020, HARMAN, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, specializing in the development of technologies for the automotive, consumer and corporate markets, announced that it continues to fight the illegal sale of counterfeit goods in Russia under the JBL brand. From January to November 2020, inclusive, the manufacturer and its partners revealed more than 1328 violations in an offline environment and filed a record number of lawsuits - 1268 against 2194 for the entire period of operation since 2017. 891 of them are already satisfied in favor of the copyright holder. Read more here.

Entering the ranking of the most efficient companies developing digital products according to Forrester

Forrester on July 29, 2020 presented a "rating of the most efficient digital product companies." As part of the comprehensive assessment, all participants were evaluated according to 29 criteria, 12 providers were included in the top rating: BCG, Bresslergroup, Cognizant, EPAM, frog, Harman, Huge, Slalom, ThoughtWorks, Virtusa, WillowTree and Wipro. Read more here.

2017: Samsung enters self-driving car market

Samsung Electronics is going to enter the self-driving technology market, relying on the development of Harman, bought for $8 billion, as well as its strong position in the mobile phone market.

According to Reuters, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Samsung will announce the creation of an "automotive strategic business unit" that will focus on driver assistance services (ADAS) and autonomous driving^[1].

This structure will include hundreds of company engineers who are already working in the field of technology for self-driving machines. The division is headed by veteran auto industry John Absmeier, who, before joining Samsung in 2015, launched an autopilot system development program in one of the world's largest auto kit companies, Delphi Automotive.

In addition, Samsung is launching a $300 million investment fund that will provide financial support to automotive startups and projects.

The company intends to create and promote technologies that "will make cars safer by creating a more convenient way of mobility."

2016: Samsung buys Harman for $8bn

On November 14, 2016, South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung Electronics announced the acquisition of Harman International for $8 billion. This deal will turn the buyer into one of the world's largest manufacturers of automotive electronic technology.

According to the agreement reached, Samsung will burn $112 for each Harman share, which is 28% more than the value of the securities of the American company by the time the exchange trading ceased on November 11, 2016.

The sale of Harman will be the largest foreign purchase in history made by one South Korean company

It is planned to close the deal by mid-2017. After completing all the formalities, Harman will become a 100 percent subsidiary of Samsung, but will remain a separate company. Harman chief Dinesh Paliwal will retain his position.

Harman perfectly complements Samsung in terms of technology, products and solutions. Joining forces will be a natural continuation of the automotive strategy that we have been developing for some time, "said Kwon Oh-hyun, CEO and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Samsung Electronics.

Having bought Harman, Samsung expects to become one of the leading players in the automotive electronics market. According to the South Korean giant, this market will reach $100 billion by 2025.

Samsung notes that the deal with Harman will be the largest foreign purchase in history made by one South Korean company.^[2]

Notes