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Dirac has a new CEO, new (DLBC) pricing, and some other Dirac rumors
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There was an article on Audioholics about the leadership changes at Dirac. Mathias Johansson is going to Harman to lead their Signal Processing & Applied Intelligence Lab. I don't know the details of Dirac in the automotive market, but it sounds like Dirac on a chip might be how it's added to OEM systems.
www.audioholics.com
Dirac Names New CEO as Co-Founder Mathias Johansson Departs for Harman
Anders Storm, a semiconductor industry veteran, brings deep technical knowledge to Dirac as its new CEO. Meanwhile, Dirac co-founder Mathias Johansson is leaving the company to join Harman.
www.audioholics.com
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An article from AudioXpress about the move to Harman.
audioxpress.com
Mathias Johansson Appointed as Vice President of Digital Signal Processing and Applied Intelligence Lab by Harman International
Dirac’s Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, Dr. Mathias Johansson, has announced his departure from the company in a LinkedIn post, where he also reveals he will transition to Harman International, having accepted a position as Vice President Digital Signal Processing and Applied...
It is generally a strange move to remove the CEO when growth is so significant, but that would indicate that the board is not happy with the results and thought that more could be done, or should be done in the future. ART "launch" should definitively not going be looked upon as successful given the time it takes/will take/(if it happens?) to actually be launched at large. Second point will be limitations of current ART - 20 to 150hz, which should be extended at both ends. But perhaps it will end up as-is. Not many have access to below 20hz range and so many capable speakers or subs that could result in need to align above 150hz.
Execution of the plans (even good ones) is what most companies fail at so we can just hope that the new CEO will be able to position Dirac for better execution. Based on their financials though, it seems that most of their R&D might go towards other areas then HT, which is probably bad news for this forum. Good news is that they should be able to leverage their growth to get more funds to prosper faster.
As usual, time will tell what this does for Dirac and if HT enthusiasts will also benefit from it.
Execution of the plans (even good ones) is what most companies fail at so we can just hope that the new CEO will be able to position Dirac for better execution. Based on their financials though, it seems that most of their R&D might go towards other areas then HT, which is probably bad news for this forum. Good news is that they should be able to leverage their growth to get more funds to prosper faster.
As usual, time will tell what this does for Dirac and if HT enthusiasts will also benefit from it.
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Was the previous CEO "removed" by the board?
Well that’s how it works in corporate chain of command. Sometimes the change is wrapped in additional circumstances such as CEO leaving to pursue other opportunities, but you don’t let the person go if you don’t want them to go. Even if contract is expiring you can do a new one with offer CEO can’t refuse.
HT is still a big part of their revenue and they capitalized on broader DLBC deployment but failed flat on ART. Even if they have a product they failed to roll it out in time due to “execution” reasons whatever they might be. Which in CEO language is there is no product to sell and then the board asks why there is no product to sell if we apparently have one in development for so long.
If you have something valuable but can’t execute then it’s just a matter of allocation of more resources to make it happen sooner. One can appreciate that sometimes not so easy to hire additional specialized resources but that gets into too much detail. Fact is that ART on additional platforms is and if 2025 event and compared to initial introduction to Storm that is a mighty long time.
By the time they release ART for D&M, I will actually have my setup figured out and largely there as-is.
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Well there's always the chance that Dirac's board has actual rational people on it who realize that there's no such thing as a CEO who is actually worth their absurd compensation figures. Probably not, though, as to question the CEO's compensation would require reflecting on their own as well.
Anyways, I was just curious if there's any actual information about the reason for the former CEO's departure beyond conjecture and assumptions.
Anyways, I was just curious if there's any actual information about the reason for the former CEO's departure beyond conjecture and assumptions.
There may also be a not necessarily minor issue of the delta between US C-level remuneration, and European ...
Harman may have "bought" him...
The most successful part of his tenure at Dirac seems to be the Automotive space - and that is where Harman seems to want to focus, and Harman/Samsung has far deeper pockets than independent Dirac.
However the outcome may be by joint win-win agreement - especially if he develops Dirac capable systems at Harman.... boosting Dirac revenues at the same time.
(as a founder at Dirac, one assumes he must own a decent proportion of its shares....)
They need to lower the stereo price and provide more machine activations. I'm still kinda mad that I helped them bug test a long time ago and informed them of a cracking method I found, was offered a discount and when I went to use it they said nah.
I do agree, a ceo is probably the biggest waste of money for a business.
I do agree, a ceo is probably the biggest waste of money for a business.
CES will be the next main rumour mill I would think?Any new rumours - has been quiet for a while
Keith_W
Major Contributor
Well Harman has something up its sleeve. First, Samsung acquires Harman. Then Harman acquires Roon. And now they have Mathias Johansson.
Yes, but will it be in the AVR/AVP space... or like the new Klipsch soundbar (with Dirac) - focused more on mass market?
I'm betting the latter (but hoping the former)
I hope the automotive and soundbar profits support the consumer home enthusiast market (which I enjoy at a lower price point than the CI market).
Samsung owns Roon now?!?
I was questioning this as well. Is there any evidence of that?
It is not unusual for a CEO to seek new opportunities. They tend to be very driven people. The departure could easily be on good or bad terms. Without evidence of either, my preference is to avoid stoking rumors of conflict.
Keith_W
Major Contributor
Yeah, there have been no rumours / mentions of CEO being pushed.... and the relationship between Dirac and Harman appears to be friendly
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