Pioneer Corporation (パイオニア株式会社, Paio'nia Kabushiki-kaisha) (TYO: 6773) is a Japanese multinational corporation that specializes in digital entertainment products, based in Tokyo, Japan. The company was founded in 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair shop.[citation needed] Today, Pioneer is well-known for technology advancements in the consumer electronics industry.
Pioneer played a role in the development of interactive cable TV, the Laser Disc player, the first automotive Compact Disc player, the first detachable face car stereo, Supertuner technology, DVD and DVD recording, plasma display, and Organic LED display (OLED). The company works with optical disc and display technology and software products and is also a manufacturer. Sharp Corporation took a controlling stake in Pioneer in 2007.
On March 7, 2008, Pioneer Corp. announced that it will stop manufacturing it's own plasma displays. The likely reason being that Pioneer has not been able to turn a profit from their current plasma displays, as well as struggled to compete with rivals, such as Matsushita Co., who have better output efficiency. Pioneer will, however, continue to make plasma televisions, and is in talks with Matsushita to buy their plasma display panels and add it's own processing units and other Pioneer technology. Pioneer sold its DJ equipment business division to KKR, which resulted in the establishment of Pioneer DJ as a separate entity, independent of Pioneer. In June 2021, Voxx International announced that it had finalized a licensing agreement with the Pioneer and Pioneer Elite brands "for all markets, except China" as part of their acquisition of Onkyo.
