Gibson buys Philips audio and video department

License agreement

Gibson paid 135 million dollars (100 million euro) for the Philips division, with a seven-year license agreement on top to keep using the Philips name for every product Gibson produces and sells. The amount it represents can grow depends on the amount of sales. Because of license agreements with other parties, the video department (mainly Blu-Ray and dvd) will only be transferred in 2017 and the entire sale should be finalized in the second part of 2014.

The entire division had almost been outsourced to Japanese Funai at the start of 2013, but that arrangement quickly got cancelled which meant the division was up for sale again, with Gibson Brands jumping at the chance. Gibson, founded in 1902, is mainly known for its electric guitars, but it also branched out into equipment like amplifiers. Since 2012, it has started to move into consumer electronics when it took over Japanese Onkyo.