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Thiel Acquired by Private Equity Firm

Just saw the news regarding Thiel's acquisition. I have an outsider (and mostly uninformed) opinion that the company was very much driven by Jim's vision and that after his passing, something had to happen to replace the energy and focus he had. When the owners could not find a suitable replacement with their own resources, they opted to sell the business. Any thoughts as to what happens now? I am concerned that we will not see future innovations in the same vein as the past (maybe the will move more downstream to grow market share). I also worry that they might lose expertise which could impact their ability to honor warranty work...
miles_trane
metman
214 posts
 
Stringreen: Please explain why this was a dumb comment? There are countless examples of vulture capitalists, PEF and hedge funds taking over companies loading them down debt, and deleveraging them all the while extracting enormous management fees and not exaclty acting with the noblest of intentions. I'm not saying this is going to happen with Thiel but to dismiss something like this outright is a little foolhardy.
james63
501 posts
 
Could be a good thing, old companies need pushed sometimes. As a process engineer i can tell you faster does not always mean lower quality.

I am a big fan of the latest Thiel products (not so much their older stuff). My only complaint about Thiel is how slow they move getting new products out. It would be nice to see a successor to the 7.2.

I liked seeing the 2.7 come out, it is probably pretty good but not sure about the market. It is pricy for a cheap speaker and pretty close in price and size to the 3.7.
jtimothya
551 posts
 
>>Thiel Audio is a rarity these days as they are an American company which actually still designs and manufactures it's products.<<

Nah, there are plenty of American companies designing and manufacturing high-end audio products. Here's just a few:

Conrad Johnson
Wilson Audio
Atma-Sphere
Shunyata
Lamm Industries
Ayre
jtimothya
551 posts
 
 
... and a few more:
 
Magnepan
Tri-Planar
Graham Engineering
Magico
VPI Industries
Silent Running Audio
Walker Audio

Before he passed on, founder William Zane Johnson sold Audio Research Corporation to an Italian outfit, but to this day ARC continues to design and manufacture their components in America.
jdoris
852 posts
 
And the above lists do not mention *many* excellent "Garage-Fi" one or two person shops!
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