RISSKOV, DENMARK and NASHVILLE, TN – TC Group and Gibson Guitar have officially ended their plans to merge, a venture that was to take place by March. According to a release from TC Group, “The main reason for not going further is that the CEO of Gibson (Henry Juszkiewicz) and Anders Fauerskov (CEO OF TC Group) simply have too different views on how things should operate.”
FOH interviewed Fauerskov back in January when the merger was first announced. When asked if cultural and business differences between the companies will be an issue, Fauerskov told FOH that he expected challenges in the upcoming year and a lot of hard work to make the merger successful. He noted that national and historical differences between the two companies required a learning curve due to the very different management style and markets of both companies. TC Group has a European-based business model compared to Nashville-Tenn.-based Gibson Guitar. Also, manufacturing and selling guitars and pro audio are both unique industries.
“It is important that we get the right people together across the companies to work together on the future of the organization, future products and so forth. It won’t be easy,” he said in the interview.
He also noted that both he and Juszkiewicz had a similar education background – both attended Harvard Business School – and saw this as a connection “that brings some common understanding.”
When Fauerskov sent out an internal announcement of the merger, he had discussed the possibility of the merger falling through: “It is an absolute possibility that the merger for one reason or another does not happen. This situation has been seen before, and can also happen in this case. If it doesn't happen, we of course lose a big and very exciting opportunity, but we will do just fine on our own as well. With our strong brands, technologies, strategies and future development path, I am very confident about the future on our own as well.”
TC Group is a Danish holding company for five major audio brands, including TC Electronic, TC-Helicon, Tannoy Ltd. and Lab.gruppen. Gibson Guitar is a legendary musical instrument manufacturer that specializes in acoustic and electric guitars.
