UPDATE: Pioneer Does The Kanagawa Two Step Around Pioneer DJ Sale

In the wake of news leaking that Pioneer was in the process of selling off its profitable and popular Pioneer DJ business unit, Pioneer has released a statement which a lot of people are taking as a denial of the sale. It isn’t a denial, it’s more of a finely worded dance around a denial, that might sound like a denial, but is really just corporate speak for “quit blowing up my spot, bitch.”

The whole thing is short and succinct on its face, but manages to leaves a ton of wiggle room.

Original statement in quotes, our translation in italics:

“Please Be informed that Pioneer Corporation has not made any announcement concerning sale of its DJ equipment business, which some media reported today.”

Shut up. Just shut up. We weren’t ready to say anything, and all this chatter is complicating the process. Negotiating half-billion dollar deals is tough enough without all the leaks. I can’t believe those guys wrote about all this stuff before we said it was cool.

“Pioneer is currently considering every possible measure with respect to review of its business portfolio, including sale of DJ equipment business. However, no decisions have been made. We have no other comments on this matter.”

We’re probably going to sell it, we’re definitely thinking about selling it. Hell, we’re talking options right now, including some of the ones mentioned in the press, but nothing is final. It’d be like if I rolled up on you while you were selling your turntables and told the buyer ‘Yeah, he can’t wait to get rid of those, he’s got a new hobby.’ It’d wreck your negotiating power. So please, stop talking about it.

We’d be utterly astounded if Pioneer wasn’t in the midst of wheeling & dealing when the news broke. We’re guessing negotiations are at a sensitive and serious enough point that little details matter and news leaks full of speculation tend to complicate things. Especially when those leaks are in regards to dollar amounts.

Our Original Article:

Reuters is reporting that Japanese electronics manufacturer Pioneer is in the process of spinning off its Pioneer DJ unit along with some of their other non-core assets. The deal is supposed to be in the final stages of completion. Pioneer DJ makes the industry standard CDJ2000 Nexus, as well as mixers, headphones, speakers and their most recent offering, the PLX-1000 turntable.

Pioneer has decided to drill down and focus their efforts on the automotive electronics market. Back in June they agreed to sell off the majority of their audio-video unit to a group out of Hong Kong, though the deal is still pending.

Bidders for Pioneer DJ have not been identified, but reports point towards a number of unnamed global private equity firms as potential new owners. No price has been announced, but speculation is that it could go for as much as $570 million.

The good news in all of this is that while a number of the business units being let go of were losing money, Pioneer DJ was profitable last year, meaning that whoever acquires it has no reason to strip it down and kill it off. It should hopefully be business as usual, although it remains to be seen if the Pioneer DJ name will continue as is through a licensing deal, or if the new owners will need to rebrand and re-launch.

Regardless of who ends up with it and what they name it, we’re happy to see a dance music-related company making money and being offered on the open market as an attractive acquisition. It means the “EDM bubble” so many people have been speculating will pop sometime in the near future, doesn’t seem to be on the horizon anytime soon. A healthy market for equipment manufacturers means the scene is still growing and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, because people with $570 million to spare, don’t throw it at losing propositions.