Steinway Has Been Acquired

Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway, is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos and purveyor of subcontracted pianos from suppliers sold under the secondary names Boston and Essex. Steinway was founded 1853 in Manhattan in New York City by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a factory and company town in what is now the Astoria section of Queens in New York City; and a factory in Hamburg, Germany.

Steinway is a prominent piano company, known for making pianos of high quality and for its influential inventions within the area of piano development. The company holds a royal warrant by appointment to Queen Elizabeth II.


Steinway pianos have been recognized with numerous awards. One of the first official recognitions was a gold medal won in 1855 at the American Institute Fair at the New York Crystal Palace just two years after the company's foundation. In 1855–62 Steinway pianos received 35 gold medals. Several awards and recognitions have followed, including 3 medals at the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Steinway has been granted 126 patents in piano making; the first patent was achieved in 1857. Most of the patents have expired.

Other than the expensive Steinway & Sons piano brand, Steinway markets two less expensive brands: Boston for the mid-level market and Essex for the entry-level market. The Boston and Essex pianos are made using low-cost components and labor and are produced in Asia by other piano manufacturers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steinway_%26_Sons
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Steinway Being
Acquired by Kohlberg
Monday, July 1, 2013, Steinway announced that it has agreed to a buyout by Kohlberg for approximately $438 million. The acquiring organization has tendered an offer to buy all existing shares for $35 each. The story was reported by the Associated Press. Steinway has also finalized the sale of Steinway Hall, located near Carnegie Hall in New York City.

The AP quotes Burt Flickinger III, president of Strategic Resource Group, a retail consultancy, as saying the new Steinway management may concentrate on expanding its business into China.
  http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/07/01/steinway-accepts-buyout-from-kohlberg/yn8b3QuKAWigRcELu0S0JL/story.html?rss_id=Most+Popular

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Note by the Blog Author

It is my opinion that the future of Steinway will depend on whether or not they can become the world’s premier manufacturer of electronic keyboards. Steinway pianos are masterpieces of nineteenth century wood technology, with a soundboard stressed to twenty tons and a wooden drum with a superior and distinctive sound. The sound is so complex that these pianos are hard to set up for microphones and for recording. They require a great deal of maintenance and adjustment. Therefore they risk becoming out of date as technology marches on and customers come to demand low-maintenance goods. For example, sterling silver flatware is no longer handmade in the United States by anyone, because the apprenticeship takes ten years and customers want flatware that requires no maintenance or polishing. The leisure boat industry is in a deep recession in the United States, and no one makes wooden yachts or sailboats anymore due to high maintenance.

The distinctive sound from a Steinway – a bright treble with a sonorous and profound base, is extraordinarily complex and difficult to synthesize. But modern computers can do it. They must do it to remain competitive in the modern age of music and technology.

Steinway needs to hire piano music lovers who are, professionally, programmers and computer design experts. They need to offer an electronic keyboard that sounds like a Steinway Model D grand and performs as effortlessly as the popular Yamaha keyboards. I wish them luck and skill in achieving this necessary benchmark.