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 Bowers & Wilkins, an audio gear brand that has been familiar to millions for decades, has been bought out by EVA Automation, a two-year-old company that has never released a product. Yet the old company’s name and CEO will remain. You’re not going to hear about a weirder deal today. 
 
 EVA Automation is the company founded by Gideon Yu, currently an advisor at Formation 8 (formerly, but not currently at Khosla Ventures, as I wrote mistakenly earlier), but well known from his involvement in various top-tier funding rounds at major tech companies, from Square to Facebook. The mission at EVA is to “reimagining the audio/video experience by making products that will change how people interact and think about the home.” 
 
 That’s proving difficult, it seems: EVA has no products to speak of. Solution: buy a company that does! 
 
 Actually, strange as it may sound, the deal seems to suit several parties. Bowers & Wilkins is an old-school manufacturer, and a partnership with a bleeding-edge automation company could make for, as they say, powerful market synergy. And as mentioned, EVA needs a product. 
 
 “We will have much, much more to announce when the time is right about our vision and our products,” Yu wrote in a post on the EVA website. “In the meantime, we will continue to work hard on developing a truly special, highly integrated, and easy to use home A/V experience that I know you’ll love.” 
 
 Not only that, but it sounds like Caledonia Investments was ready to jump ship; it sold its 20 percent stake for $24M and change as part of the deal. 
 
 As it would probably result in a mutiny if a baby company that’s never shipped anything took over management of a decades-old industry mainstay, Bowers & Wilkins CEO Joe Atkins will keep his role, though he’ll by necessity be parting with a considerable amount of his 60 percent share in the old company. Yu will be Executive Chairman. 
 
 It’s an odd deal but perhaps one that will lead to prosperity for all involved. Though it may be a while before you see the results of this partnership. 

 EVA Automation joins forces with Bowers & Wilkins 
 
 A letter from our founder 
 
 Friends of EVA, 
 
 I am beyond thrilled to announce that we have acquired Bowers & Wilkins—in my opinion, the absolute quality and design leader in high-end audio equipment. I’ve personally been a huge fan and loyal customer of Bowers & Wilkins for decades and truly admire and respect their Chairman, Joe Atkins. What he and his team have created over the past 30 years is simply inspiring. 
 
 Since I founded EVA Automation two years ago, we have been working hard to create fantastic home A/V user experiences. When it was time to seek out partners for our journey ahead, Bowers & Wilkins was unquestionably our #1 choice, and after I met Joe and his team, it was immediately clear that we share the same long term product vision and sincere passion for home entertainment. 
 
 To my new friends at Bowers & Wilkins: I can’t wait to meet all of you! Your brand and heritage are second to none, and we at EVA are excited to operate as one combined company under the Bowers & Wilkins name. Joe Atkins has graciously agreed to remain the CEO of our combined company, while I will be our Executive Chairman. There are very few leaders in home A/V as experienced, respected and successful as Joe, and I look forward to partnering with and learning from him…and all of you. 
 
 One of the most important parts of our acquisition is that Joe is maintaining a significant equity stake in our combined company and will be joining our board of directors, further aligning all of our interests. 
 
 We will have much, much more to announce when the time is right about our vision and our products. In the meantime, we will continue to work hard on developing a truly special, highly integrated, and easy to use home A/V experience that I know you’ll love. 
 
 Until then, 
 
 Gideon Yu 
 
 Executive Chairman 
 
 Bowers & Wilkins
– "You’re not going to hear about a weirder deal today," declares TechCrunch after a decades-old British speaker company was bought by a tiny Silicon Valley startup this week. Founded in 1966, Bowers & Wilkins boasts pages of audio products for sale. Founded in 2014, EVA Automation has no products to speak of. EVA solved that problem by buying Bowers & Wilkins. The financial terms of the deal haven't been revealed, but Engadget estimates it at approximately $175 million. Bloomberg reports the move was unusual as typically the more established company buys the new, exciting one. EVA Automation's stated goal is to "change how people interact and think about the home." Meanwhile, Bowers & Wilkins has lagged behind in pushing new technology, such as cloud services, in its products. As part of the deal, EVA Automation will take on the Bowers & Wilkins name, keep Bowers & Wilkins' CEO, and continue to employ the speaker company's 1,100 workers (EVA Automation employs 40). EVA Automation founder Gideon Yu says he wants to start selling new speaker products next year. “This is the way that Silicon Valley and other industrial companies raise the game for consumer-brand electronics," Bloomberg quotes Yu as saying. (A "tight-lipped" startup is taking over Palo Alto.)