Gibson, TC Group Cancel Merger

After much fanfare at the 2008 NAMM show in January, Gibson and TC Group have cancelled their planned merger. No details as to why the coupling disintegrated.

TC Group, the holding company behind Tannoy, Lab.gruppen, TC Electronic, TC-Helicon and TC Applied Technologies, and Gibson, litigation-happy guitar manufacturer, issued an identical press statement, which noted that the decision followed “an intensive effort by both parties to consummate the deal within the targeted timeline, but a number of issues remained unresolved, and both Gibson and TC agreed that it was best that the merger proceedings not continue.”

Under the original terms of the deal, the merger was to have been completed by the end of February, with Anders Fauerskov, chief executive officer of TC Group, becoming the chief operating officer of the new combined Gibson Guitar Corp. As part of the terms Fauerskov would have remained based in Europe.

Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar, declared, “this merger will revolutionize the music industry for many years to come,” when the engagement was first proposed. However, who and why one of the companies left the other at the alter remains unclear.

The Future: Did Gibson’s deluge of wonky Guitar Hero patent infringement suits leave a bad taste in TC’s mouth?

Author: FutureMusic

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