Panasonic To Cut 10K Jobs, Exit Businesses

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Tim n Tempe

Fine. We will see how things are at the end of the year.

Not sure why it even matters? If every manufacturer quit making players today, mine still work and so do my discs. And that's before getting into PC options.

[Jay H.]

I wish that sky would stop falling all the time.

[ronand]

What are all these streaming fan boys/ physical media doom & gloom merchants doing here?

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

I wish that sky would stop falling all the time.

Between this news and the Harman aka Samsung deal, the writing is on the wall:

"Masimo Corporation (Nasdaq: MASI), a leading global medical innovator has announced today in a press statement that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Sound United consumer audio business to Harman International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. The aggregate purchase price is $350 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments.

The sale includes the Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Polk and Marantz brands which will now join Harman’s portfolio of premium audio brands which includes JBL, Harman Kardon, AKG, Mark Levinson, Arcam, and Revel. The sale follows the previously announced review of Masimo’s consumer audio business and will support the company’s strategic focus on driving innovation in its core professional healthcare segment. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2025, subject to receiving necessary regulatory approvals.

Quentin Koffey, Vice Chairman of Masimo’s Board of Directors, stated, 'Finding the right home for this business has been a stated priority of the new Board from day one, and this transaction represents an important milestone as we continue to position the Company to achieve our goals of accelerating revenue growth while delivering disciplined margins. Masimo has tremendous opportunities ahead and we are confident we have the right healthcare-focused strategy, experienced leadership team and culture of innovation in place to build on our significant positive momentum.'"

[Uncle Bud]

Originally Posted by Streamingsux

Which Sony 4K player would you say is the best?

I've owned two Sony 4K players: the X-700 and the X-800M2. The X-700 was fine; I just found it made too much noise when playing 4K discs for my liking. The X-800M2 I bought when it was first introduced, and I've used it almost every day since. Still going strong with no problems. I don't care about DV, so the non-auto detect thing was never an issue for me. Some settings may need to be changed depending on your equipment. One example: in my case, to get proper color conversion, I had to change YCbCr/RGB (HDMI) to RGB.

EDIT: I've never owned a Panasonic 4K player, but every DVD and BD player of theirs that I've tried over the years has been wretched.

[kingreed]

I think that we need to wait and get more information from Panasonic in the future of 4K blu ray players before making a decision and we shouldn't push that panic button yet. We just need to wait and see. If Panasonic does stop making 4K blu ray players then that will be a major blow but someone else will likely come out and enter the 4K blu ray player market. I say this because as long as they keep coming out with movies on both blu ray discs and 4K discs there will always be companies that produce 4K blu ray players that is as long as there's a market for them.

[Telemachus]

rip the bidness

[danny24]

Originally Posted by kingreed

I think that we need to wait and get more information from Panasonic in the future of 4K blu ray players before making a decision and we shouldn't push that panic button yet. We just need to wait and see. If Panasonic does stop making 4K blu ray players then that will be a major blow but someone else will likely come out and enter the 4K blu ray player market. I say this because as long as they keep coming out with movies on both blu ray discs and 4K discs there will always be companies that produce 4K blu ray players that is as long as there's a market for them.

Someone in another thread mentioned the Walmart brand Onn possibly doing a 4K UHD player. Walmart sells a ton of physical media so if Panasonic exits the market I could definitely see that as a possibility. It would make sense for them to do that and carry it at their stores.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by alchav21

They might not be sold at a loss, but are they really selling at a good Profit Margin? With Disc sales going down I'm sure Panasonic will be looking at the Blu-ray Player Department for cuts!

Not sure why you’re so eager for this to happen.

[Cortiz]

Hmm, let see, i have no idea what the future holds for 4K players or physical media for that matter. I think that the last few years has been great for us collectors with tons of great releases in 4K and BD. And there's still a lot more great releases coming down the pipe. So I think for the time being we are in good shape. I'd say enjoy the moment, and don't worry about stuff that you have no control over. Myself, i have an Oppo 203 as my main player, a Sony X1100ES as a backup, and brand new sealed Oppo 203 in the storage. As a middle age dude in my early 50's, i think it's probably save to say that my players have a very good chance of outlive me.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Naiera

Not sure why you’re so eager for this to happen.

It’s his hobby. He has wanted discs to fail for as long as I can remember.

Him and CGpublic constantly swim in misery lake, believing they are all knowing gurus by predicting the death of optical media year in, year out.

This has been the case since I joined here 13 years ago.

Cgpublic even gives his posts self important Bold headlines.

Can’t believe they aren’t banned, constantly slagging off the Blu-ray format and optical media while constantly predicting it’s death is surely against the forum rules.

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by cgpublic

Between this news and the Harman aka Samsung deal, the writing is on the wall:

Masimo buying Sound United for $1 billion in 2022 never made any sense. Masimo is a medical devices company--mostly for hospital level devices--they were never a consumer electronics company. And they were certainly never a home audio company. It seems that purchase was some personal project of the then Masimo CEO, not one that made any business sense. And the current Masimo management thinks the same.

Home audio has been in decline for several decades. That's why Sounds United was available in the first place. When was the last time you saw a standalone retail "stereo" store? Cheaper home audio devices have gotten surprisingly better sound quality. Not great, but good enough that most consumers don't see the point in spending thousands when they get good enough for a couple hundred. Which is kind of what's been happening with streaming home video, too.

Sounds United brands moving to a well capitalized company in a division that specializes in audio--including some of the best pro audio--likely extends the life of their product lines. So good for consumers like me who might still spend to get that quality, including for "home theater". Their products haven't had a whole lot to do directly with video--at least not in my memory--so the sadly continuing decline of disk sales likely hasn't been a major part of that equation.

[Tim n Tempe]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Not sure why it even matters? If every manufacturer quit making players today, mine still work and so do my discs. And that's before getting into PC options.

There will never be an issue finding hardware to play 4K discs.
But for me personally, the Panasonic flagship player is the best on the market.
the UB9000 has been perfect For me.
And if this news does in fact spell doom for the Panasonic line of players, we will lose something very special. It will literally be the end of an era.

[rebbirds]

Originally Posted by kingreed

I think that we need to wait and get more information from Panasonic in the future of 4K blu ray players before making a decision and we shouldn't push that panic button yet. We just need to wait and see. If Panasonic does stop making 4K blu ray players then that will be a major blow but someone else will likely come out and enter the 4K blu ray player market. I say this because as long as they keep coming out with movies on both blu ray discs and 4K discs there will always be companies that produce 4K blu ray players that is as long as there's a market for them.

But even so, I guess those who talk about 8k players and 8k uhds in the future are possibly totally wrong.

[Fat Phil]

Originally Posted by rebbirds

I guess those who talk about 8k players and 8k uhds in the future are possibly totally wrong.

They always were wrong and continue to be wrong, so nothing's really changed.

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

Sounds United brands moving to a well capitalized company in a division that specializes in audio--including some of the best pro audio--likely extends the life of their product lines. So good for consumers like me who might still spend to get that quality, including for "home theater". Their products haven't had a whole lot to do directly with video--at least not in my memory--so the sadly continuing decline of disk sales likely hasn't been a major part of that equation.

That's a good point. But on the other hand, Sound United under Masimo gave the impression they were more or less left to run the brands as they saw fit.

Under Samsung, well, the brand is Samsung. And while I do agree with you Samsung has a talented audio team and a strong soundbar line-up, it would be unfortunate if Samsung cherry picks the best people and related assets to compete with say, Apple or Sonos in the connected home space and lets separates whither on the vine.

As a long-time Denon fan and someone who does not own any Samsung products, I'll just take it easy at this point and maybe pick up one of those heavily discounted AVRs.

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by rebbirds

But even so, I guess those who talk about 8k players and 8k uhds in the future are possibly totally wrong.

Originally Posted by Fat Phil

They always were wrong and continue to be wrong, so nothing's really changed.

Agreed that 8K for discs and related players is DOA. There's no growth, so no incentive. If a future codec was capable of compressing an 120 or 180 minute long 8K source file to fit on a 100GB disc without noticeable degradation over a 4K file, there might be some use cases, but not many.

No, 8k will be streamed, with sports programming in large screen settings, bars, nightclubs, sports books and casinos as the likely use case scenario at first, then perhaps trickle down to the home if the economics, and the global economy, can support it.

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by Tim n Tempe

There will never be an issue finding hardware to play 4K discs. But for me personally, the Panasonic flagship player is the best on the market.

My sentiments exactly. While I don't foresee an issue finding a player with all of the used players on the market, seeking a new player may become an expensive proposition ala Magnetar. With China as the major source of player manufacturing, who's going to capitalize a business making players elsewhere?

As I shared in the lead, this is a PSA based in reality. If you only have one player, not a fan of buying used or game consoles, or perhaps have been considering buying a Panasonic, in my view the near future is a good time to buy, especially if you can snag one on the cheap.

If you're flush, plenty of people paid through the nose for a sealed Oppo.

Of course, if your house is chock full of players or the above doesn't apply, you're golden.

If you have difficulty dealing with the real world, well, can't help you there.

The fact is Panasonic is laying off 10K of its workforce and seeking to invest in growth areas and shed diminishing businesses.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Naiera

If they’re not sold at a loss, why would they stop selling them?

even if something is not sold at a loss it can still make sense to stop it. Imagine a store on a daily basis ity spent 1k$ for X and it is sold for 2k$ every day it spends 1k$ for Y and it is sold for 3k$ it can still make sense to reduce X (possibly to 0) and increase Y. because 2k of y will sell for 6k$.

but like always this is a lot of nothing. it is 4% unfortunate for those employees but a very small cut and that it is related to anything anyone cares for here is only in the wet dreams of the same users that have tried to pretend the sky is falling for as long as I have been here.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Naiera

Not sure why you’re so eager for this to happen.

It is Alchav. There is a lot of hatred there for some reason (my guess jealousy) he has been been at it for the 15 years he has been here.