BREAKING NEWS: Major Shake Up At Bowers & Wilkins As CEO Exits

A major shakeup has rocked high end Hi Fi Company Bowers & Wilkins with two senior executives exiting the Company.

Gideon Yu, the ex-Facebook CFO who acquired B&W back in 2016 via Eva Automation and Gregory Lee, a former Samsung President who was made CEO at the end of 2019, also appears to have quit management roles at the UK Company, who mid last year appointed Philip Newton a former Samsung Vice President as CEO of the Australian operation.

Analysts are shocked by the move as it was anticipated that B&W who have been forced to air freight product into Australia because of a “significant increase in demand” after Harvey Norman moved to range the Companies new networked speakers and noise cancelling headphones was seen as being in growth mode after Yu and his Silicon Valley start-up, Eva Automation took over the Company and after spending 18 months developing a new network for their Formation range of products.

David Duggins has been appointed as a director of B&W Group.

Duggins is a “restructuring professional available for Board or Advisory roles in companies undergoing restructuring, re-financing or sale”.

Bowers and Wilkins were the audio company behind the iconic Zeppelin wireless speaker that took off after the launch of the iPhone.

The Company been operating in the UK since its founding in 1966 among the Bowers and Wilkins lineup are their high-end Diamond speakers, headphones, and 120kW Pro sound systems.

At the time of the takeover, Yu said: “Bowers & Wilkins brings an incredible brand, experienced and well-respected team and commitment to making high-end audio equipment of unmatched quality. We at Eva share their same product vision and passion for home entertainment and look forward to creating fantastic home AV experiences together as one combined company.” The company’s website claimed it was in the business of “reimagining the audio/video experience by making products that will change how people interact and think about the home”.

The new Formation Duo, Formation Wedge and Formation Flex attracted excellent reviews from leading audio magazines.

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David Richards

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.