Steinway Musical Instruments
Encyclopedia
Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. is a musical instrument manufacturing conglomerate
.
Through acquisitions and mergers, the company has acquired a large number of musical instrument brand names and manufacturing facilities. It now owns manufacturers of piano
s, string
, brass
, percussion
and woodwind
instruments
.
The company sells its products through a worldwide network of dealers to professional, amateur and student musicians, as well as orchestras and educational institutions, under dozens of different brand names.
It employs a workforce of over 1,700 and operates 11 manufacturing facilities in the United States
and Europe
.
On May 19, 2008 Steinway announced the acquisition of ArkivMusic, an online retailer which operates the website ArkivMusic.com. This website is devoted to sales of classical music on the Internet, direct to the consumer. Service delivery of physical media (CDs, DVD
s, MP3
s, SACDs
, Blu-ray Disc
s and DVD-Audio
s) is fulfilled from 20 distribution centers. There are currently more than 90,000 titles from more than 1,500 labels in the ArkivMusic database. Under Steinway, ArkivMusic will continue to operate independently, but will consolidate its finances with other Steinway businesses.
In the cover letter to the proxy statement for the June 24, 2011 annual meeting, Steinway Musical Instruments CEO Dana Messina stated that he and Chairman Kyle Kirkland would sell their class A shares in the company to the largest two shareholders, the piano and guitar maker Samick Musical Instruments Co., Ltd.
and ValueAct SmallCap Partners. Following the June 2, 2011 sale, Samick is the largest shareholder, controlling 33% of Steinway Musical Instruments stock; Samick Chairman Jong Sup Kim has been a member of the board of directors of Steinway Musical Instruments since November 2009. With 10% of stock, ValueAct is the second-largest shareholder of Steinway Musical Instruments.
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
.
Through acquisitions and mergers, the company has acquired a large number of musical instrument brand names and manufacturing facilities. It now owns manufacturers of piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
s, string
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
, brass
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
, percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
and woodwind
Woodwind instrument
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...
instruments
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
.
The company sells its products through a worldwide network of dealers to professional, amateur and student musicians, as well as orchestras and educational institutions, under dozens of different brand names.
It employs a workforce of over 1,700 and operates 11 manufacturing facilities in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
On May 19, 2008 Steinway announced the acquisition of ArkivMusic, an online retailer which operates the website ArkivMusic.com. This website is devoted to sales of classical music on the Internet, direct to the consumer. Service delivery of physical media (CDs, DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s, MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
s, SACDs
Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...
, Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
s and DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio is not intended to be a video delivery format and is not the same as video DVDs containing concert films or music videos....
s) is fulfilled from 20 distribution centers. There are currently more than 90,000 titles from more than 1,500 labels in the ArkivMusic database. Under Steinway, ArkivMusic will continue to operate independently, but will consolidate its finances with other Steinway businesses.
In the cover letter to the proxy statement for the June 24, 2011 annual meeting, Steinway Musical Instruments CEO Dana Messina stated that he and Chairman Kyle Kirkland would sell their class A shares in the company to the largest two shareholders, the piano and guitar maker Samick Musical Instruments Co., Ltd.
Samick
Samick is the name of a Korea-based musical instrument manufacturer, one of the largest in the world.The name refers to the entire Samick Musical Instruments, which owns several manufacturers of pianos, guitars, and other instruments. The company started as 'Samick Pianos' in 1958, manufacturing...
and ValueAct SmallCap Partners. Following the June 2, 2011 sale, Samick is the largest shareholder, controlling 33% of Steinway Musical Instruments stock; Samick Chairman Jong Sup Kim has been a member of the board of directors of Steinway Musical Instruments since November 2009. With 10% of stock, ValueAct is the second-largest shareholder of Steinway Musical Instruments.
History
- May 1995: Selmer IndustriesThe Selmer CompanyHenri Selmer Paris company is a French family-owned enterprise, manufacturer of musical instruments based in Paris, France in 1885. It is known for its high-quality woodwind and brass instruments, especially saxophones, clarinets and trumpets...
acquires Steinway Musical Properties, parent company of Steinway & SonsSteinway & SonsSteinway & Sons, also known as Steinway , is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos, founded 1853 in Manhattan in New York City by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg...
piano company. - July 1996: Selmer Industries is renamed "Steinway Musical Instruments".
- August 1996: Steinway Musical Instruments IPO.
- January 1997: Acquisition of Emerson flutes, flute manufacturer.
- December 1998: Acquisition of Kluge, piano key manufacturer.
- March 1999: Acquisition of Steinway Hall in New York City, piano showroom.
- November 1999: Acquisition of O.S. Kelly, piano plate manufacturer.
- January 2000: Acquisition of Pianohaus Karl Lang, piano showroom.
- September 2000: Acquisition of United Musical Instruments, band instrument manufacturer.
- January 2003: Merger of The Selmer CompanyThe Selmer CompanyHenri Selmer Paris company is a French family-owned enterprise, manufacturer of musical instruments based in Paris, France in 1885. It is known for its high-quality woodwind and brass instruments, especially saxophones, clarinets and trumpets...
and United Musical Instruments into one entity under Conn-SelmerConn-SelmerConn-Selmer, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of concert band, marching band, and orchestral instruments. It is a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments and was formed after Steinway bought musical instrument manufacturers The Selmer Company and C.G. Conn.-Founding:In the late 1800s,...
. - August 2004: Acquisition of G. LeblancLeblanc (musical instrument manufacturer)Leblanc, Inc. is a musical instrument manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin.The company was purchased on 1 August 2004 by Steinway Musical Instrument Company, which now operates Leblanc as a division of its Conn-Selmer subsidiary.Leblanc inc...
, band instrument manufacturer. - May 2008: Acquisition of ArkivMusic, online retailer of classical music.