Audio Research in Receivership.

My money is on the post in the other thread that says the new owners will bleed the company dry then dump it. So much greed and don’t give a s*** what happens to anyone in this world. 

Very sad.  I’d like to think there’s enough brand equity built up in ARC that someone reputable could see value in simply providing better management.  But, it really all comes down to who buys them.  There are several success stories where an acquirer didn’t mess up the “secret sauce” of a company and it successfully goes on, but there are others — Thiel comes to mind — where it was completely mishandled and a miserable failure.  In this case I sincerely hope this follows the former as it would be a big loss for the audio community at large to lose a company, and its products, of this stature.

ARC is an iconic American brand. My biggest fear is that someone might buy it and only focus on capitalizing the brand name at the expense of everything else that was responsible for giving ARC near-legendary status. I won't be surprised if most of production is moved overseas with only final assembly taking place in the U.S. so they can continue to milk the US heritage. Many iconic brands of yesteryears have faced similar fate. 

@ronboco @soix  Private Equity doesn't give a f****** s*** about Brand Equity -- preserving it, that is. They will fake a savior pose, as they always do, while draining everything for asset value. What wealthy, generous, public-spirited, devoted audiophile with management skill is gonna outbid the bloodsuckers? I always felt that ARC was the industry flagship, and if That One ever went belly-up, it would mean game over. Please, Athena, prove me wrong and transform the Erinyes.

@hickamore You can’t generalize like that.  There have been several excellent brands that have been rescued and continue to innovate and produce quality products.  Like I said before, it all depends on who buys them.