Onkyo says goodbye: the famous brand of AV receivers goes bankrupt

The time goes by. Technology changes and the needs of consumers, too. When there is a significant technological change in the market, manufacturers have very few options: risk and bet on the new to have future opportunities or risk even more leaving everything as it is. The mythical Japanese audio brand Onkyo took the second path, and although it has been able to ride several waves that have come its way, finally, this week the company’s bankruptcy was confirmed after two years in a row in losses.

Renewed or die

Onkyo says goodbye

Yesterday we talked in this blog about the iPod. How Apple has decided to stop manufacturing them after launching them for the first time in 2001. And we also talk about MP3 players, which were the affordable alternative to these devices. But, oddly enough, there are companies like Onkyo that never managed to modernize enough to be able to compete with those products that came onto the market about 20 years ago.

Onkyo decided to go down the analog route . They continued to sell those large computers that were so common in the 80s and 90s, but that were disappearing from homes with the miniaturization of technology and digitization . However, what has ended up killing this company has been streaming music. Consumers are no longer looking for Hi-Fi equipment, but rather good headphones with which to listen to music through our smartphone.

Of course, Onkyo upgraded its equipment to support digital music services, but that change wasn’t enough to keep its business afloat. After all, most users are satisfied with a mobile phone or a computer to listen to music.

Onkyo fought until the last moment

onkyo audio

Onkyo’s decline has been slow and also quite painful. In 2015, the company tried to become profitable and avoid bankruptcy by taking over Home Electronic Corporations , a hitherto division of Pioneer that sold AV receivers, Blu-ray players, and some somewhat newer AV products.

In 2018, the Gibson guitar brand ended up going bankrupt, one of Onkyo’s largest shareholders. The liquidation of the shares was not positive for the Japanese brand, as the shares had a considerable drop as a result of overselling. In 2021, Voxx International and Sharp Corporation became interested in Home Electronic Corporations. In September of the same year, the company’s dismantling was completed: the Sharp and Voxx International joint venture kept the main business and the rest of the company ended up in the hands of an investment fund from the United States. Shortly before, Onkyo had already delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange due to its negative net worth.

Finally, the worst news arrived. On May 13 , Onkyo filed for bankruptcy with a liability of $24 million. This is how a mythical brand that was unable to adapt to a changing market and tried to fight with what it could to cling to the analog is said goodbye.