Who is going to buy the old Sound United which was rebranded Masimo Consumer, rumour has it that Apple has been approached and a deal cut, a move that some claim could be Brilliant” for not only Masimo who need to get their money back on the deal, but the entire audio industry.

The concept of Apple getting their hands on brands such as Bowers & Wilkins, Denon or Marantz is not as daft as some people think.

Apple owns Apple Music which has hundreds of millions of subscribers, and while Apple owns Beats, they also need a new category as sales of iPhones wither and demand for Macs and iPads struggle.

Give me an offer Masimo CEO Joe Kiami.

The Apple services business is booming and is a massive cash flow and by adding premium sound gear is not as risky as some claim.

By adding a two-tier strategy of premium and affordable premium audio gear to their portfolio they would be in a perfect position to sell a balanced range of audio products to a global audience of audio content buyers.

Apple is well known to Masimo and Masimo is a pain in the back side of Apple who stand accused of stealing Masimo patented Oxygen management technology for their iPhone. Apple is currently appealing a recent court loss in the matter with both sides tipped to have recently held discussions with the patent rights to Masimo’s oxygen technology a key part of the discussion. 

The biggest hurdle is the mess that Masimo is in with the mother of all AGM’s set to take place next week that could resolve whether Masimo CEO Joe Kiani the founder of Masimo and the man who acquired Sound United is still going to be controlling the Masimo board.

On one side is activist investor Politan Capital Management and its Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer Quentin Koffey who is utterly pissed off that Kiani forked out over $1 billion dollars to acquire the Sound United business that has recently been hived off into a separate operation complete with Masimo health watches for consumers.

Days out from the board meeting that is taking place on the 25th of July US time and 26th in Australia, total pandemonium has broken out.

The fighting between Koffey and Kiani has got so brutal that two of the Masimo directors – one a legacy director and one who recently joined the board (not through Politan) – have resigned their appointments.
This fight has it all including private dinners between Joe Kiani and Quentin Koffey who claims Kiani tried to buy him off, offering to buy all his stock at a “substantial premium” in exchange for Koffey’s agreement to not purchase more shares and never run a proxy contest in the future.

Obviously Koffey “flatly rejected this idea.”Back in March 2024, Masimo entered into a confidentiality agreement with a potential joint venture partner in connection to the spin-off of Sound United.

Apparently, this potential JV partner is someone that Masimo had been in discussions with over other issues which some insiders claim is Apple.

Kiani arch rivals at Politan complained that the “full board knew nothing about the existence of the joint venture partner or any discussions that had occurred.”

Politan is angered that Kiani refuses to reveal the identity of the potential JV partner.

After a lot of push shoves and legal threats, Kiani revealed the identity after Politan signs a confidentiality agreement – and also after, according to Politan, it threatened to sue Masimo for the information under Delaware corporate law.

ChannelNews understands that a terms sheet has been developed and agreed by both parties.

They also conducted a due diligence check.

Koffey proposes stopping all action for the spin-off of Sound United until after the shareholder meeting.

Documents lodged with the US Securities and Exchange Commission refer to this as the “Standstill Proposal.”

On May 16, 2024, the board approved the Standstill Proposal with several people sweating to know who the buyer of the old Sound United Masimo Consumer business is.