Who owns Akai?

Does anyone know what company owns Akai now? I know they also bought Numark and another major company.

I believe Numark is the one that bought Akai & Alesis. But I'm sure if they bought all of Akai or just the distribution part. Maybe someone on here w/ a better understanding of this situation can add to what i put. I think this was brought up in the newbie section if you want to check there also.

Numark just distributes them in the US. Akai makes consumer Audio/video products and Akai pro is only a small division of Akai that makes pro level music equipment.

numark didnt buy akai - but numark, akai and alesis are all owned by the same person

Jenre wrote:numark didnt buy akai - but numark, akai and alesis are all owned by the same person

and that person would be?

Akai Pro are distributed by Arbiter in the UK - I understand that Numark are just heading it in the Americas.....

The last thing that Akai want is Numark to get involved with construction of units.[/b]

peezie wrote:Numark just distributes them in the US. Akai makes consumer Audio/video products and Akai pro is only a small division of Akai that makes pro level music equipment.

Actually, Akai Pro have nothing to do with Akai, they were sold off years ago.

Akai Pro, Numark and Alesis got bought up by a venture capitalist whose name I don't remember. Does it matter what his name is? It's not Dre or anyone else you've ever heard of.

It's "Jack O'Donnell".

Excerpt from what looks like an interesting article below, you have to join and spend money (eek!) to read all of it, oh well. http://www.highbeam.com

"Akai Professional: Jack O'Donnell gave Numark and Alesis a new lease on life. Now he hopes to work the same magic on Akai Professional. Herewith he outlines his turnaround strategy."

"Jack O'Donnell has a well-earned reputation as a master of the corporate turnaround. In 1992 he left his job as vice-president of sales at Stanton Electronics to purchase the assets of Numark Electronics, which was then a small DJ manufacturer that had just filed Chapter 11. In short order he revamped the Numark product line. With a heavy emphasis on elegant industrial design, he sourced production around the world and unleashed a hard-hitting sales effort. Within five years, Numark had emerged as a leading player in the DJ market."

from http://www.gearjunkies.com/news_info.php?news_id=522

April 11th, update: We did research the news on the Akai take over rumours. And we found out that AKAI, makers of the legendary MPC line of samplers, was puchased out of bankruptcy late last year! The new owners also purchased Alesis and Numark out of bankruptcy in recent years, so we can expect the same kind of comeback from AKAI!


But! Numark did not takeover Akai Pro. Numark, Alesis and Akai Pro are owned by
the same adventure capitalist. The three companies have dedicated engineering teams and remain unique entities. Akai was experiencing distribution problems in the US so Jack O'Donnell (owner of Numark, Alesis, Wavefront Semiconductor, & Ion Audio) offered to assist Akai with there distribution channels and ended up buying the company. This was best thing that could have happened to Akai Pro because now the brand has the capital
to keep producing the MPC, the most influential piece of audio hardware of the past 20 years.

Oh my god, the Newmark mixers are horrible. I don't know what they used to be like, say; 15 years ago, but every 'new' mixer I had in the last five years packed up (Level faders snapped, cross faders leaked, unit shorted).

D6 wrote:Oh my god, the Newmark mixers are horrible. I don't know what they used to be like, say; 15 years ago, but every 'new' mixer I had in the last five years packed up (Level faders snapped, cross faders leaked, unit shorted).

Yes but you have to admit, they are getting better with the quality

my first mixer was a numark ( got it for a good deal with my 1200,s a few years back ) and it also packed up way quick , and i was just a beginner when it packed up with the faders and all else , but the newer stuff doesnt seem all that bad ,,

The last one I bought was about a year ago PD1 or something, I went through about 4 new mixers in about 6 weeks....