Samsung Completes $8 Billion Cash Harman Buy Months Ahead of Schedule

Harman International shares ceased trading Monday and were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after Samsung Electronics announced Saturday it completed its $8 billion Harman buy on the fast track. The companies said in November they expected Harman/Samsung would close mid-2017 (see 1611140030). One of the last remaining hurdles to the deal was cleared when the FTC granted the transaction early termination of the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period just before Christmas (see 1612210031). Dinesh Paliwal will remain CEO at Harman, which will operate as a stand-alone subsidiary reporting to a board chaired by Young Sohn, Samsung Electronics president-chief strategy officer, Samsung said.