Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Audio |
Founded | 2003 |
Founders | Rick Alden and Cris Williams |
Headquarters | Park City, Utah, U.S. |
Key people |
|
Products | Headphones Audio equipment, audio accessories |
Revenue | $266.3 million (2015) [1] |
Owner | Mill Road Capital [2] |
Website | www |
Skullcandy Inc. is an American company based in Park City, Utah, that markets technology such as headphones, earphones, Bluetooth speakers and other products. [3]
It was acquired by Mill Road Capital for $196.9 million and the deal was finalized on October 3, 2016, making Skullcandy a wholly owned private subsidiary of that company. [2]
Skullcandy's products are primarily targeted at the outdoor action sports demographic (snowboarders, skateboarders, etc.) and general consumer market, but they have expanded in recent years into the premium audio market with products such as the Crusher headphones. [4] Skullcandy products are sold through retailers, specialty outlets, corporate incentive programs and the company's online store. [5]
Skullcandy was founded by Rick Alden and Cris Williams in 2003. The first Skullcandy product, the Skullcandy Portable Link, was introduced at the 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The LINK system combines headphones with hands-free cellular technology, allowing users to listen to music from a portable audio device, while making and receiving calls through their cellphone. Skullcandy holds a patent for the wireless version of LINK technology. [6]
In December 2008, Skullcandy products were described as "the world's coolest ear bud," by Fortune magazine. [7]
In April 2011, Skullcandy purchased headphones manufacturer Astro Gaming from Astro Studios for an unknown amount of cash.
On January 28, 2011, Skullcandy filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. [8] This announcement was met with some criticism from the financial press. [9] [10]
On June 24, 2016, Incipio, a maker of phone cases, wireless speakers, and other accessories, announced plans to acquire Skullcandy for $177 million; however, the deal later fell through as Incipio refused to submit a proposed amendment to the merger agreement and Skullcandy terminated the agreement. [11] Skullcandy considered numerous other offers, eventually agreeing to be acquired by Mill Road Capital for $196.9 million at $6.35 per share. The deal was finalized and completed on October 3, 2016, and the company became a private business again. [2]
AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has marketed taller pile systems that use infill materials to better replicate natural turf. In 2016, AstroTurf became a subsidiary of German-based SportGroup, a family of sports surfacing companies, which itself is owned by the investment firm Equistone Partners Europe.
Logitech International S.A. is a Swiss company and a multinational manufacturer of computer peripherals and software. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, the company has offices throughout Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, and is one of the world's leading manufacturers of input and interface devices for personal computers (PCs) and other digital products. It is a component of the flagship Swiss Market Index.
Koss Corporation is a company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US that manufactures headphones. The company introduced the first high fidelity stereophones.
The Source (Bell) Electronics Inc., doing business as The Source, is a Canadian consumer electronics and cell phone retail chain. The chain goes back over 40 years in Canada, initially as Radio Shack and later as The Source by Circuit City. The Source is now owned by BCE Inc., which purchased the assets of InterTAN from its parent, American retailer Circuit City, in 2009. The Source is a unit of 4458729 Canada Inc. and is based in Barrie, Ontario.
SigmaTel, Inc., was an American system-on-a-chip (SoC), electronics and software company headquartered in Austin, Texas, that designed AV media player/recorder SoCs, reference circuit boards, SoC software development kits built around a custom cooperative kernel and all SoC device drivers including USB mass storage and AV decoder DSP, media player/recorder apps, and controller chips for multifunction peripherals. SigmaTel became Austin's largest IPO as of 2003 when it became publicly traded on NASDAQ. The company was driven by a talented mix of electrical and computer engineers plus other professionals with semiconductor industry experience in Silicon Hills, the number two IC design region in the United States, after Silicon Valley.
Monster Inc. is an American company that manufactures and markets about 6,000 products, but is best known for audio and video cables. It also produces speakers, headphones, power strips, mobile accessories and audio devices for automobiles. The company was founded by an audiophile and engineer, Noel Lee, in 1979 by experimenting with different ways to build audio cables. It grew by doing demonstrations to convince the industry that audio cables made a difference in audio quality and by establishing relationships with retailers that were attracted to the cable's profit margins.
Sierra Wireless is a Canadian multinational wireless communications equipment designer, manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. It also maintains offices and operations in the United States, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India, France, Australia and New Zealand.
Lifetime Products Inc. is a privately owned company founded in 1986. Its main products are blow-molded polyethylene folding chairs and tables, picnic tables, home basketball equipment, sheds, coolers, kayaks and paddleboards, and lawn and garden items, along with OEM steel and plastic items from other companies.
Richard P. "Rick" Alden is the founder and former CEO of Skullcandy, Inc., Device Step-In Snowboard Bindings, Stance Socks, and co-founder of Plus550 LLC.
Beats Electronics LLC is an American consumer audio products manufacturer headquartered in Culver City, California. The company was founded in 2006 by music producer Dr. Dre and record company executive Jimmy Iovine. Since 2014, it has been an Apple subsidiary.
JVCKenwood Corporation, stylized as JVCKENWOOD, is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It was formed from the merger of Victor Company of Japan, Ltd (JVC) and Kenwood Corporation on October 1, 2008. Upon creation, Haruo Kawahara of Kenwood was the holding company's chairman, while JVC President Kunihiko Sato was the company's president. JVCKenwood focuses on car and home electronics, wireless systems for the worldwide consumer electronics market, professional broadcast, CCTV and digital and analogue two-way radio equipment and systems.
RUCKUS Networks is a brand of wired and wireless networking equipment and software owned by CommScope. Ruckus offers Switches, Wi-Fi access points, CBRS access points, Controllers, Management systems, Cloud management, AAA/BYOD software, AI and ML analytics software, location software and IoT controller software products to mobile carriers, broadband service providers, and corporate enterprises. As a company, Ruckus invented and has patented wireless voice, video, and data technology, such as adaptive antenna arrays that extend signal range, increase data rates, and avoid interference, providing distribution of delay-sensitive content over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi.
NetLogic Microsystems, Inc. was a fabless semiconductor company that developed high performance products for data center, enterprise, wireless and wireline infrastructure networks. The company was founded in 1995 by Norman Godinho and Varad Srinivasan, became a public company on the NASDAQ exchange under the leadership of CEO Ronald Jankov in July 2004 and was acquired by Broadcom Corporation for $3.7 billion in February 2012.
SMS Audio is an American consumer electronics company that primarily manufactures and markets headphones. The company was founded by 50 Cent in 2011 and acquired Kono Audio that same year.
V-MODA is a private company that specializes in the design and production of mobile audio products, including headphones, earphones, portable amplifiers, protection ear plugs and accessories.
Sol Republic, Inc. was an American privately held audio manufacturer based in Michigan. Founded in 2011 by Scott Hix, Seth Combs, and Kevin Lee, it was sold to HoMedics in late 2015 or early 2016.
Nura was a consumer electronics company based in Melbourne, Australia, that designed and manufactured headphones with personalized sound technology. Nura's proprietary technology automatically measures the user's hearing sensitivities to different frequencies by monitoring sounds generated from the inner ear. This hearing measurement process takes 1–2 minutes. The headphones then adapt their frequency response to the user's hearing, allowing them to hear more detail when listening to music.
The Google Fast Pair Service, or simply Fast Pair, is Google's proprietary standard for quickly pairing Bluetooth devices when they come in close proximity for the first time using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). It was announced in October 2017 and initially designed for connecting audio devices such as speakers, headphones and car kits with the Android operating system. In 2018, Google added support for ChromeOS devices, and in 2019, Google announced that Fast Pair connections could now be synced with other Android devices with the same Google Account. Google has partnered with Bluetooth SoC designers including Qualcomm, Airoha Technology, and BES Technic to add Fast Pair support to their SDKs. In May 2019, Qualcomm announced their Smart Headset Reference Design, Qualcomm QCC5100, QCC3024 and QCC3034 SoC series with support for Fast Pair and Google Assistant. In July 2019, Google announced True Wireless Features (TWF), Find My Device and enhanced Connected Device Details.
ASTRO Gaming is an American consumer electronics manufacturer specializing in video gaming headsets, peripherals, and accessories.