Fremont, Calif. — Logitech International announced that it has acquired privately-held Slim Devices, a maker of home network music systems, for $20 million in cash and possible further payment.
Slim Devices’ most successful product, the Squeezebox, and the recently announced Transporter, enable digital music streaming to multiple rooms from a variety of sources such as a networked PC or storage device, or directly from the Internet.
The Logitech purchase of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company includes a possible performance-based payment, tied to reaching certain future revenue targets.
“With the acquisition of Slim Devices, Logitech is building on our foundation of innovation in digital music and home-entertainment control to address an emerging market,” said Guerrino De Luca, Logitech president/CEO. “Slim Devices brings expertise in both network-based music delivery and high-quality audio, and a committed community of developers.”
Slim Devices was founded in 2001 by CEO Sean Adams and CTO Dean Blackketter. The company developed the SlimServer software, which powers the Squeezebox and Transporter, as well as the SqueezeNetwork, which delivers content to the devices from the Internet, without requiring a PC.
Adams will remain with Logitech and the Slim properties will become a distinct group within Logitech’s entertainment and communications business unit, according to Logitech.
“Slim Devices has been very successful in developing and enhancing network-based solutions for delivering premium-quality digital music and Internet radio to music lovers, thanks to our effective collaboration with our open source community,” said Adams. “Now we have the opportunity to leverage the marketing, sales, distribution, supply chain, manufacturing and engineering resources of a company that shares our passion for innovation in digital music and that can help us reach a wide range of mainstream customers. We’re very excited about joining the Logitech team to continue to shape the future of digital music in the home.”
