Yamaha

Yamaha Motor Corp. USA said it completed its acquisition of fishing boat manufacturer Skeeter Products Inc. of Kilgore, Texas, for $37.5 million. Cypress-based Yamaha, a unit of Yamaha Motor Co. of Tokyo, acquired Skeeter from New York-based Meridian Sports Inc.

Yamaha Motor Corp. USA plans to acquire a Texas-based fishing boat manufacturer for $37.5 million in a move aimed at further increasing Yamaha's reach into the water-sports market. Yamaha, which already owns two U.S.-based boat builders, will acquire Skeeter Products, a Kilgore, Texas, manufacturer of outboard-powered fiberglass fishing boats, from Skeeter parent Meridian Sports Inc. of New York. Cypress-based Yamaha Motor USA is part of Japan's Yamaha Motor Corp.

Western Digital Corp. has formed a partnership with Yamaha Systems Technology Inc. of San Jose to develop technologies to improve 3-D graphics for video computer games. Western Digital and Yamaha said their first project will be a graphics accelerator to boost graphics capabilities of personal computers. Irvine-based Western Digital designs and manufactures hard-disk drives, integrated circuits and graphics controller board-level products. San Jose-based Yamaha Systems, a unit of Yamaha Corp.

At last, there is some relief for the ears--and nerves--of those who must live with beginning piano students. Yamaha Corp. of America will introduce today its Silent Series piano, a hybrid of regular piano and electronic keyboard that can plug into headphones. The Buena Park company, a subsidiary of Japan's Yamaha Corp., developed the silent piano so that would-be musicians can practice at any time of the day or night without disturbing sleepers or couch potatoes.

Yamaha Motor Corp. USA, the Cypress-based importer of Yamaha motorcycles and other products, on Thursday issued $150 million in securities backed by dealers' inventory loans. The so-called "dealer financing receivables bonds" are a fairly new fund-raising tool. While all the major domestic automotive companies have sold at least one offering, Yamaha is the first Japanese-owned company to do so in the United States. Yamaha's certificates mature in five years and pay investors 6.25% interest.

Yamaha Corp. of America plans to introduce two new product lines today that it says highlight its growing expertise in using computer technology to more accurately reproduce sound. The more innovative product to be introduced by the Buena Park-based company is a synthesizer for music aficionados that uses virtual acoustics, or the use of complex mathematical computer models to simulate and reproduce sound.

Yamaha Corp. of America plans to introduce two new product lines today that it says highlight its growing expertise in blending music and computer wizardry. The more innovative product to be introduced by the company is a synthesizer for music aficionados that uses virtual acoustics, or complex mathematical computer models, to simulate and reproduce sound.

For years, Yamaha Corp. was content to be known as a maker of motorcycles, pianos, guitars, keyboards and other musical equipment. But now the Japanese company's Yamaha Corp. of America subsidiary in Buena Park wants everyone to know that it has the know-how to blend music and personal computers. Since 1973, the company has manufactured semiconductor chips for its musical instruments. Since 1986, it has become a leading producer of chips that enhance the sound of PCs.

Don't call it a player piano. To Terry Lewis at Yamaha Corp. of America, it's a Mark II Disklavier, and it's the last great hope of the piano industry. Piano sales have been sinking for more than a decade. Changing musical tastes, cuts in school budgets for music instruction, the popularity of inexpensive electronic keyboards and tough competition for home entertainment dollars during the recession share the blame. But the Disklavier, Lewis said, is beginning to change that tune.

Yamaha Corp. of America has chosen a new advertising agency to promote its Disklavier electronic player piano and other keyboard products. The company chose Costa Mesa's Salvati Montgomery Sakoda agency to handle the keyboard division account, estimated by AdWeek magazine to be worth $2.5 million a year. The Yamaha account, now held by LinkFreeman in Chicago, had been in review for about two months, said Dan Pittman, a spokesman for Salvati Montgomery Sakoda.