Who Owns JBL?

When it comes to speakers, including underrated Bluetooth speakers, one of the most popular brands on the market is JBL. For those unaware, JBL stands for the initials of the company's founder, James Bullough Lansing, who started the company in 1946. Today, JBL is owned by Samsung Electronics through the 2017 acquisition of its parent company, Harman International, but let's take a look at the ownership history of this Los Angeles-based speaker company.

The origins of JBL start in 1927, when Lansing started the Lansing Manufacturing Company to build speaker components. This business was acquired in 1941 to form another company that audiophiles will recognize today, Altec Lansing. Just five years later, Lansing ventured out on his own once again as the founder of the company we know today as JBL.

In 1969, JBL was acquired by Harman, an American electronics company that currently owns iconic audio brands such as Bowers & Wilkins, Infinity, Polk Audio, and many more. Fast forward to 2017, when Samsung paid $8 billion to acquire Harman and its brands in order to take advantage of its success in the automotive audio space, which accounted for nearly 65% of Harman's revenue at the time. This included everything from infotainment systems and connected-car tech to premium speakers, with JBL audio already featured in vehicles made by Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.

And the acquisition has been a success for all parties involved, especially Harman, which reported $10.1 billion in revenue for 2024 and $10.1 billion in 2025. As one of Harman's individual brands, JBL is very much still in the spotlight. Renowned for portable audio, JBL's rugged Bluetooth speakers deliver pulse-pounding sound both indoors and outdoors, and they are sold in numerous shapes and sizes. JBL speakers are also competitively priced, which means you can get great sound without overspending.

We're wondering how much influence Samsung took from Harman and JBL when designing its own speakers. Devices like the Samsung Music Studio 7 and Studio 5 are smart speakers that harness both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the minimalist appearance and driver technology seem very informed by the sleek Harman aesthetic and bass-forward JBL performance. And since Harman now owns Denon and Arcam — prolific names in the home theater space — JBL is now associated with some of the best AV receivers, according to audiophiles.