“My main mission is to help grow the electronics business within the Gibson portfolio,” Bob Weissburg, Gibson Guitar’s newly appointed global executive VP, told TWICE.
Bob Weissburg.
The former D&M executive, on the job for less than a week, was referring specifically to the company’s pro and consumer audio businesses, which combined account for a minority of Gibson Guitar’s volume. The majority of the company’s volume is in musical instruments.
Weissburg, who reports directly to Gibson chairman/CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, said he will be “working closely with all groups,” including the musical instruments group, but not to run their day-to-day operations. “I’ll be there to support them and help direct their efforts.”
In the newly created position, Weissburg said he will be “working across all the different divisions to take advantage of the resources the company has available” to help grow the pro audio, CE and musical instruments brands.
Weissburg will also “work directly with Onkyo USA’s president and the Onkyo team” to “expand and grow the [Onkyo] business,” the CE industry veteran said. Gibson recently closed on a deal in which it acquired a majority of Onkyo USA and became the second largest shareholder of parent Onkyo Corp. in Japan.
Gibson has “a great opportunity to build the legacy brands from the recent acquisition [of Stanton Group],” Weissburg added. Stanton’s businesses included Cerwin Vega! home and pro audio speakers, KRK Systems pro-audio speakers and studio-control solutions, and Stanton DJ, which markets professional DJ equipment.
The acquisition added the only two CE brands to the Gibson stable: Cerwin-Vega! and Stanton DJ.
To further expand the home and pro audio businesses, Weissburg said “all things are under consideration.” The company “will not be limited to what exists today,” and there “could be new products or new brands,” he said.
When asked if Gibson will extend its musical instruments brands into consumer electronics, he would say only that “a number of different options can be considered” and that “nothing is definitive.”
