B&W Sold

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  • Freddie40
    Senior Member
    • Jun 2009
    • 152

    B&W Sold

    In case you haven't heard:


    Interview: B&W Acquired by Owner of San Francisco 49ers, a Super-Geeky Audiophile

    Silicon Valley start-up Eva Automation, co-founded by 49ers president Gideon Yu, acquires leading audio firm Bowers & Wilkins. Leadership packed with Harvard MBAs, venture capitalists, digital gurus and audiophiles.

    Interview: B&W Acquired by Owner of San Francisco 49ers, a Super-Geeky Audiophile
    San Francisco 49ers owner Gideon Yu and his team at Eva Automation promise only to enhance the vaunted B&W brand they just acquired.

    Julie Jacobson · May 3, 2016
    The vaunted audio brand Bowers & Wilkins has been acquired by Silicon Valley start-up Eva Automation, whose CEO Gideon Yu is president of the San Francisco 49ers and an unapologetic “geek that really loves audio/video, technology and sports,” he tells CE Pro.

    Yu is a Stanford-educated engineer with a Harvard MBA and a rich career in venture capital. He served as CFO for both Facebook and YouTube. His co-founders and colleagues are equally accomplished, with strong academic credentials and successful careers in consumer electronics, digital media, user experience (UX) and venture capital. Eva’s investors and advisors represent the who’s who of technology, finance and UX, from the likes of Yahoo!, Alibaba, YouTube, National Semiconductor, Facebook and Sequoia Capital.

    But Yu doesn’t want us to care about all of that. He wants integrators to know that the acquisition of B&W, including sub-brands Classe and Rotel, was born of a “sincere enthusiasm” for high-quality audio and a long-term adoration for B&W in particular.

    To be sure, Yu and his start-up Eva have broad-market aspirations but he promises, “You won’t see any changes whatsoever in audio quality. All the audiophiles out there have nothing to worry about.”

    Who is Eva Automation?

    Eva is a two-year-old firm operating in stealth mode to create the ideal multiroom audio and video system because. Yu has been seeking such a thing for decades – something that combines high-end A/V with a “really fantastic user experience.”

    “You won’t see any changes whatsoever in audio quality. We plan to invest in quality. Otherwise, why would we acquire B&W?
    — Gideon Yu, CEO Eva Automation, executive chairman Bowers & Wilkins
    Despite improvements in both areas over the years, “What I want for my own living room has not been created,” he says. “There’s components, like some good interfaces and really good high-end audio/video. If I could buy it, I would, but it hasn’t been created.”

    Yu says Eva has already developed the core of a multiroom A/V system, developed with the expertise of digital gurus and UX experts from the ranks of Apple, Facebook, YouTube and others. But the solution, aimed at discriminating users, was incomplete without the power of a beloved brand and the craftsmanship of true A/V artisans.

    “We went out to talk to a lot of the brands you [CE Pro] cover,” Yu says. “We asked: Is there was a way to take our technology, our user experience, our expertise in apps – things we’re good at – and help you guys or partner with you guys?”

    When Yu met B&W owner Joe Atkins and the team, “It was a whirlwind romance,” Yu confesses. “I’ve been a fan for decades and customer recently. Their views of where they want to go in the future is just amazing.”

    Like virtually every big brand in high-performance audio, B&W has contemplated its role in the multiroom-audio business, especially in the broader market served by … broader-market consumer brands.

    “They [B&W] were saying there’s a lot of good technology out there, but still not the quality that B&W will put its name on,” Yu explains. “When we talked to Joe about their product roadmap, their passions, their dreams, it made a lot of sense for them to partner with us.”
    Crystal Clear Music Tweaked Mac Mini / Yosemite -> JRiver 20 -> Ayre QB9DSD -> Bryston BP26DA -> Bryston 4BSST2 -> B&W 802Di | Transparent Reference XLRs, Transparent Super Speaker Cable, Maple Shade USB cable, Crystal Clear Music Power Cords
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