Endnu en topchef forlader B&O

Koncerndirektør Peter Thostrup, der sidder med styretøjet efter Torben Ballegaard Sørensens exit i januar, forlader nu også Bang & Olufsen.

Hi Erik!

Where do you got this news from?

Is it for real or is it an "april fools" ? (looking at todays date )

Foxtrott

out with the old , in with the newa near death experience can be a very good thing for a company

it can re invigorate and clean out all the dead woodlook at apple

in other news - dell are in BIG trouble - how sad  

It is for real.

They have, in the same message, said that they expect to announce a new CEO this month.

He'll leave B&O in September.

Anyway.. Q3 results are going to be published on Tuesday 8 April. Don't know what to expect... but taking into account that the whole economy is in a steep dive... I won't be surprised if we see red numbers for the first time in years!

Linkage

Simon

How long will it take before the ship sinks? I haven't heard of any pricereductions yet. So I am not suprised if the results will be even worse.

In the meantime consumers are buying more and more Audio-Video stuff at least in the Netherlands. Turnovers in Flat-televisions and home entertainment are enormous they say in the papers all the time. So that some uses the excuse of the economy..

Isn't that just a weak excuse to hide the fact that Bang & Olufsen is doing some things very wrong?

Keeping things in perspective, and reading from a few of the reports in the Danish press.

The temporary CEO was an interim post. He'll be staying until the 30th of September, the new CEO is ready to be announced by the end of the month and a good transition's been promised by the Chairman of the Board. The person filling the post as temporary CEO has been with B&O for 18 years, and has received a very attractive offer from another company, which he has accepted.

Stocks dipping, while some analysts consider this a good thing as B&O needs to change strategy. 

Bingo:

I agree. The new strategy must be: Away with the extremely overpricing !!

That is a potentially interesting one, and depends on where B&O is looking for it's revenue. If you saw the 'se*iest spekers' thread on here a while ago the B&O offering was  very much at the budget end of what was on offer, and there is presumably money to be made by going ultra-expensive.

It would alienate a lot of existing customers, but there are plenty of people, especially in emerging markets,  where high price is part of the kudos. Making money out of these new customers while not alienating the existing customer base is some  balancing act!

 I do think all makers of high-end kit are in for a bumpy ride in the next couple of years though. It will be interesting to see who copes best.

 Simon

I do not expect any price reductions. I would expect though that the underlying technology improves. More connections (HDMI) and less falling behind with specs like they did with BV7 32. 

If the BV8 would have worked in Europe, we might have seen more products in that price range, but since it didn't I think they stay where they are. 

I found the Hotel idea that they had very good, and it seems to generate some sales. Something like that might be more helpful then shaving 3000$ of a BV7. Let's be realistic, a person who doesn't buy a 15K$ TV will most likely not buy a 12K$ TV either.

JK 

You don't expect any price reductions? Well, I think they don't have any choice. Bang & Olufsen is losing more costumers every day. In the Netherlands, every year more B&O dealers vanish ....

Bingo, Bingo, Bingo. How many more times must you be told. Swingeing price cuts will NOT happen. The business model does not allow it.

Where you have an organisation with relatively high fixed costs and low manufacturing capacity, the only way forward is to maintain prices!

Your suggested alternative is the road to ruin. Prices don't have to fall much to push the organisation into making enormous losses which will have only one conclusion and it's not the one you want.

Bingo, EVERY company lose customers every day. B&O's problems aren't prices, they are lack of new products.

Where are the new products? Ok, a few minor updates recently (BV7-40, BV4), but the long-awaited BeoMaster 5 delayed and few other new products expected soon. Apart from the BL10, I can't remember anything planned this side of Summer?

I posted recently, that apart from the BV8, I visited a London-based store recently and they had the same products on display that they had nearly 12 months ago. They'll have the same products on show in June, too.

The Netherlands has over a hundred dealers, I'd say that's probably more than needed. If any are closing it could even be a part of B&O's strategy of ending shop-in-shop to go for exclusively operated B1 stores with B&O only.

http://www.beoworld.org/dealer_view.asp?cid=NL

I think the dearth of new products is a lot more serious than the price level of the existing ones.

Bingo:

I agree. The new strategy must be: Away with the extremely overpricing !!

Again... Lowering the prices will not resolve the problem! But I'm repeating myself.. so I won't go into details

I suppose I am a bad student because I will never understand

I don't think you can be taken serious nowadays when you ask 16000 euro or more for an little above average 50 inch plasma picture. It is a price outstanding every A-V market rule in my opinion. You have now 50 inch plasma televisions with the same picture quality (PZ800 from Panasonic) for around 2500 euro. The pricegab has become to almost everyone not understandable. Then you have a big problem as a manufacturer.

I really really think that if they don't come with an answer to the big group of costumers with a bit more income then average that want a big flatscreen for a reasonable price, that it is over for Bang & Olufsen.

I waved goodbye to Bang & Olufsen for buying a tv a few years ago. For more then 20 years, I bought nothing else then a Bang & Olufsen tv. I think i am not the only one in that group of people. Just don't understand the price anymore compared to the other brands and that makes my decision. Even If I would be rich, I still would't understand it better so my choice would be the same. But time will tell ofcourse who is right.

Bingo

One thing we have in common is that neither of us will be paying 1600 euro for a B&O flat panel. But we probably wouldn't be paying 8,000 euro  either, in my case because I don't have that kind of money to send on a TV

It will help if you can get  your head around the fact that high-end products  will hardly ever justify themselves in bang-per-buck terms, that goes much wider than AV. Some people will find the extra for the high-end  it is worth it for them, most will go for the cheaper alternative. It need not be a problem!

I agree with comments about the need for innovative new products though. 

Simon

Bingo:

I suppose I am a bad student because I will never understand

There were people who couldn't understand when I paid a tremendous amount of money for a Beomaster 1900 in the late 70's or why I paid around £1100 for a Beocenter 9000 in 1986 or why I paid loads of money for RL140's a couple of years later.

There will always be people who can't understand. Shame!!

i don't mind paying top whack when the products are worth it , the beolab 5 springs to mid in the current range , the avant and 8k's in the old days and the stunning top end beossystems and beocentres of the good old days

however , i DO object to paying at least a grand over the odds on junk like the hdr-2 and dvd-2 which are nothing more than rebadged and crippled 3rd party boxes 

joeyboygolf:

Bingo:

I suppose I am a bad student because I will never understand

There were people who couldn't understand when I paid a tremendous amount of money for a Beomaster 1900 in the late 70's or why I paid around £1100 for a Beocenter 9000 in 1986 or why I paid loads of money for RL140's a couple of years later.

There will always be people who can't understand. Shame!!

Graham, I know exactly what you mean. When I paid just over £3000 for my BV3-32 moct people thiught I was mad. One person I worked with had purchased a complete surround sound system and 32" TV for what I paid for the stand for the BV3. Well I know why I did and would expect your reasons were the same.

Craig

yep , the bv3 and avant were easily worth the outlay as they were excellent highly specced tv's that wiped the floor with the competition

i had a sony wega before my avant and that was supposedly the ultimate crt tv

ha

not compared to a bang & olufsen crt , believe me ! 

I bought a brand new BC8500 & MX5000 TV in the late 80's. I was only 20 something. I too was thought mad. I still have the 8500 & it gets wow's not only when visitors see it for the first time but a small silent one from me when I play with it. The MX had been shipped off to my parents in France and has recently died but did give sterling service all these years. Still looks cool.

When I think about all the tv's & stacking hifi's my friends have been through throughout the time I had the above I'd hate to think how much they've spent.

That to me is what B & O should be. Any manufacturers system will give that tickly feeling when it's new to you but only very few will still be doing it in 3 years time. I'd always pay a premium for that. Trouble is that there's only a few items within the current range that I think could give me that feeling - and none of them are TV's.

Stonk:

That to me is what B & O should be. Any manufacturers system will give that tickly feeling when it's new to you but only very few will still be doing it in 3 years time. I'd always pay a premium for that. Trouble is that there's only a few items within the current range that I think could give me that feeling - and none of them are TV's.

   Every morning when I come downstairs my BV3 still looks fantastic after 3 1/2 years. Thats without it been turned on. Not many other TV's you can say that about. We have recently been thinking of changing for a BV8 but I don't think it will have the same effect after 3 years the more I think about it.

Craig

Bingo:

You don't expect any price reductions? Well, I think they don't have any choice. Bang & Olufsen is losing more costumers every day. In the Netherlands, every year more B&O dealers vanish ....

Bingo: I love the over-priceing. Keeps it relatively exclusive. Would hate it if my staff would be able to buy the same TV as I have.

and with respect to vanishing of Dutch dealers: maybe some of them merge into a larger one?