Tommy Moore Leads Buyout Of Akai’s Electronic Musical Instrument Division

February 17, 2000 -- Akai Musical Instrument Corporation (AMIC), the Texas based distributor of Akai products in North and South America announces that AMIC CEO Tommy Moore has lead a management buyout of the assets of the professional products division of Akai Electric Company Ltd., of Tokyo and Akai Electric Company Ltd.’s London based professional products division.

The acquisition includes the product development, research and development, manufacturing and administrative infrastructure of the Akai Tokyo EMI division as well as their US and UK distribution centers. The Akai Professional and Akai Digital divisions are now wholly-owned subsidiaries of AMIC, while the consumer products divisions remain with Akai Electric Company Ltd. of Tokyo.

Moore founded International Music Corporation which later became AMIC and has served as President since its inception. Under his direction, the company has continually expanded their product range to include a wide array of audio products for the musical instrument, professional, broadcast and post production markets. Moore also lead AMIC’s earlier acquisition of Jackson/Charvel Guitars and has assumed the position of Chairman and CEO of the newly expanded Akai Musical Instrument Corporation.AMIC also announces the formation of Akai Professional Musical Instrument Company Ltd. in Tokyo, with industry veteran Jack Sugino serving as President. UK operations will be headed by Graham Noon, a longtime employee of the former corporation.

"The electronic musical instrument division of Akai Electric Company Limited, Tokyo was founded in 1983 to best utilize Akai’s extensive digital technology for music professionals and other professional audio applications," explains Moore. "Since that time, we have firmly established ourselves as a market leader in digital audio recording, sampling and drum machine technology. This acquisition further increases our focus on our core markets and allow us to better anticipate market trends, while minimizing our time to market response."

AMIC Executive Vice President Tom Linklater comments, "While our customers and sales force may not be noticeably affected on a day-to-day basis, the benefits of our expanded operation will have subtle but profound results and have already become apparent in many areas of our business model. Our reputation for bringing top quality new products to market in an amazingly short timeframe, will continue to grow while our ability to quickly respond to our customer’s needs is greatly enhanced. The acquisition also affords us greater means to coordinate our sales and marketing efforts worldwide - resulting in a cohesive, global response to every regional marketplace."

For more information visit Akai on the web at www.akaipro.com.