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Samsung's Harman to Acquire Masimo's Sound United Consumer Audio Business for $350 Million

Samsung's Harman to Acquire Masimo's Sound United Consumer Audio Business for $350 Million

Irvine-based Masimo Corp. agreed to sell its Sound United consumer audio business to HARMAN International Industries Inc., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., for $350 million. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2025.
'Finding the right home for this business has been a stated priority of the new board from day one, and this transaction represents an important milestone as we continue to position the company to achieve our goals of accelerating revenue growth while delivering disciplined margins. Masimo has tremendous opportunities ahead, and we are confident we have the right healthcare-focused strategy, experienced leadership team and culture of innovation in place to build on our significant positive momentum,' said Quentin Koffey, vice chairman of Masimo's board of directors, in a statement.
Sullivan & Cromwell served as legal adviser to Masimo.
Information for this article was sourced from Harman.
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Exclusive: Embedded tax startup April raises $38M
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Exclusive: Embedded tax startup April raises $38M

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The Bay Area suburbs where renters are taking over the market
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The Bay Area suburbs where renters are taking over the market

For decades, the path from renter to homeowner in America looked like this: You rent in a big city when you're just starting out, then once you've settled into your career and personal life, you buy a house in the suburbs. But high home prices combined with 30-year mortgage rates stubbornly stuck in the sixes have kept home ownership out of reach for many for the past few years, especially in the Bay Area. A new study from Point2Homes shows that renter households now outnumber homeowners in more than 200 metropolitan suburbs nationwide. Point2Homes provided the Chronicle with data on the share of renters in the smaller cities around the San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont metropolitan area (the data excludes San Jose and most of the South Bay, which are considered a separate metro). In 24 of the 54 cities analyzed, the percentage of the population that rents is rising. In seven of them, renters now represent larger shares of the population than homeowners. 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Some workers who were given free rein to move to Texas or Idaho found themselves recalled by return-to-office policies. But even now, many offices in the Bay Area have only partial RTO: Office visits are down 44.6% in San Francisco this year compared with 2019, according to a study from location data analysis firm That makes the suburbs a more appealing place to live, Regan said. Only needing to drive to the office two or three days a week instead of five makes an onerous commute slightly less daunting. So there's interest in more housing in the suburbs — but challenges to build it. Regan said California's condo defect liability laws dissuade developers from building a type of housing that was traditionally a solid first rung on the property ladder. Many cities are out of space to build single-family homes. 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Earnings playbook: Reporting season ramps up with more ‘Magnificent 7' results this week

This week marks the busiest week of the second-quarter corporate earnings season, and some of the world's biggest companies are on the docket. In coming days, 151 companies in the S & P 500 are slated to release their latest quarterly results. That includes four of the "Magnificent Seven," Meta Platforms and Microsoft on Wednesday and Amazon and Apple on Thursday. They will follow those from two other notable megacap technology companies, YouTube and Google parent Alphabet and Tesla . Alphabet shares closed higher Thursday after second-quarter earnings and revenue topped expectations, while Tesla shares nosedived after the electric vehicle maker saw auto sales decline for a second consecutive quarter . Corporate earnings have proven strong so far, with more than 82% of the 169 S & P 500 companies that have reported beating Wall Street's expectations, according to FactSet data. Here is CNBC Pro's breakdown of what to expect in some of the coming week's most notable reports. 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Wednesday Meta Platforms is scheduled to report earnings after the market closes, followed by a conference call at 5:00 p.m. Last quarter: Meta revenue surpassed Street expectations , and its second-quarter forecast matched what analysts were expecting. This quarter: Analysts expect the Facebook and Instagram parent to post year-over-year earnings and revenue growth of more than 14%, LSEG data shows. What to watch: Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik recently raised his price target to $775 from $700 and reiterated an outperform rating on the stock. "Despite some eyebrow-raising offers tied to their high profile AI talent hiring spree, Meta appears to be the easiest name to own in digital ad land. They continue to be a clear AI winner, with positive ad checks supporting company commentary on improving ad efficacy," he wrote. What history shows: Data from Bespoke Investment Group shows that Meta has beaten earnings expectations in 10 straight quarters and revenue estimates in 11. 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This quarter: Analysts see single digit top- and bottom-line growth year over year for the iPhone maker, according to LSEG. What to watch: Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Ng recently trimmed his price target to $251 from $253, but kept his buy rating. "Apple should deliver a revenue and EPS beat, driven by (1) double-digit growth in Services (+11% yoy); (2) strength across Products including iPhones, Mac, iPad, and Wearables; and (3) better-than-expected gross margins reflecting on better tariff-related costs and forex headwinds," he wrote. Service revenue will expand as a result of continued spending in Apple's App Store, Ng said. What history shows: Apple has beaten both earnings and revenue expectations for nine straight quarters, with an overall earnings beat rate of 89%, Bespoke said. The stock averages a gain of 1.2% on the first trading day following each earnings release. — CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.

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