Harman's addition to Samsung Electronics, led by Chairman Lee Jae-yong, marks its 10th anniversary this year. Harman's sales last year exceeded 1.5 trillion won, more than doubling from the time of the acquisition.
According to Samsung Electronics on the 22nd, after the acquisition of Harman by Samsung Electronics was announced in Nov. 2016, the deal was finalized in March of the following year. The purchase price was 9.4 trillion won (about $8.0 billion), the largest-ever among mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by Korean corporations of foreign corporations at the time. Samsung Harman's revenue surpassed 1.0 trillion won (1.008 trillion won) in 2019, and reached an all-time high of 1.57833 trillion won last year. Compared to sales right after the acquisition in 2017 (710.34 billion won), it more than doubled.
Operating profit last year also hit a record 153.11 billion won, with a high operating margin of 9.7%.
Of last year's revenue, sales in the automotive electronics segment are estimated at 1.0–1.1 trillion won. Automotive electronics is growing rapidly, accounting for about 65%–70% of the total. Samsung Harman also ranked in the 40s on the list of the world's top 100 automotive electronics corporations selected by U.S. trade magazine Automotive News, which includes all auto parts makers.
As of last year, it maintained the world's No. 1 position in digital cockpits and car audio, core automotive electronics components. It also holds the No. 1 spot in professional audio such as stage sound and in Bluetooth speakers, leading to assessments that it has captured both automotive electronics and audio.
The Harman acquisition was led by the chairman. After joining Samsung Electronics, Harman has generated broad synergies not only with finished goods in IT such as appliances and mobile, but also with components including semiconductors, mobile communications, displays, and electronic devices. In particular, Harman's key automotive electronics components deliver top-tier connected car capabilities—online connectivity, swift vehicle control, and satellite phone service available anywhere in the world—based on Samsung Electronics' fifth-generation (5G) mobile network technology.
Samsung Electronics, through collaboration with Harman's automotive electronics solutions, has also laid a long-term foundation to strengthen its technological capabilities in smart cars and smart homes by boosting market share for the Exynos Auto chip and the SmartThings platform. Harman's audio technology built over the past 80 years has also been applied to Samsung Electronics TVs, appliances, and mobile devices, helping Samsung Electronics sweep the global No. 1 position in IT finished goods.
In December last year, Samsung Harman acquired the advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) division of German automotive electronics corporation ZF for 1.5 billion euros (about 2.6 trillion won). ZF's ADAS division holds the world's No. 1 position in smart camera modules for autonomous driving. With its vast autonomous driving data accumulated over more than 20 years, expectations are that it will elevate Samsung Harman's integrated operational capabilities for Autonomous Driving by another level.
Samsung Electronics also plans to invest 131.18 million euros (about 230 billion won) in Hungary to expand an Autonomous Driving software and hardware research and development (R&D) center and Harman's automotive electronics production base. Samsung Harman has continued investing to remain at the top in audio as well, including acquiring the audio division of U.S. corporations Masimo for 500 billion won in May last year. The Masimo audio division owns the B&W speaker institutional sector and the Denon, Marantz, and Polk Audio global premium audio and car audio brands.