October 30, 2024

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Harman and Roon logos (Samsung Electronics)

Harman, Samsung Electronics' audio and automotive component subsidiary, said Tuesday it acquired Roon, a popular music player platform, to strengthen its home audio business.

Roon is a music player platform for enthusiasts, featuring a rich interface for browsing and discovering music, compatibility with almost any audio device and a playback engine designed to deliver the best possible sound, according to Samsung.

Roon is available on all popular operating systems, and the firm also manufactures a line of hardware server appliances called Nucleus.

Focusing on connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise products, Harman said it seeks Roon's audiophile-quality music aggregation, connectivity and streaming technology to complement its comprehensive audio offerings.

“At Harman, we take great pride in our ability to create exceptional audio experiences for our partners and consumers around the world,” said Dave Rogers, the Harman president leading the lifestyle division.

“The team at Roon shares our passion in bringing exceptional sound and connectivity to music lovers as they browse, discover and listen at home and on the go. We are looking forward to welcoming Roon, whose impressive talent will join the Harman family and bolster our already robust engineering capabilities.”

Harman said Room will operate as a standalone business with its existing team. All Roon operations will stay in place and continue to be dedicated to serving and growing Roon’s community of device partners and customers, the company said, for the joint mission to deliver engaging and personalized audio experiences across a universe of products and platforms.

Aligned with its "work with all" strategy, Harman said it is committed to growing Roon’s open device ecosystem that includes collaboration with more than 160 other audio brands, delivering audio to more than 1,000 high-performance devices.

“Our team is ecstatic to join Harman, a visionary company that has been leading the audio industry forward for decades,” Roon CEO Enno Vandermeer said.

“By combining forces with Harman, Roon gains the incredible scale, resources and reach of a global technology leader, while maintaining our independence to invest in the business’s growth and future. We look forward to continuing to bring our advanced data management, SaaS (Software as a Service) expertise and consumer engagement capabilities to our broad ecosystem of partners, as we join forces with Harman to deliver even greater audio experiences to our customers.”

Harman posted a quarterly record operating profit of 450 billion won ($347 million) for the July-September period, with increased sales in car and consumer audio products, such as portable speakers.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)