All speculation at this stage, but, generally it only goes one way from here on in.. another one sold out!! Whatever happens, thankfully the parts will be available as Dave said above and I and the rest of us owners will hopefully have our ‘authenticLelits’ for many years to come!

As a Lelit owner, I’d start looking into somehow downloading and documenting all of the videos of servicing your machine from Lelit Insider on YouTube. I’d imagine larger companies not in agreement with teaching individuals how to DIY fixes from a legal and financial aspect.

That’ll be my to-do after seeing this thread.

I have no skin in the game so my only interest with what happens now with the Lelit acquisition, and Baratza is curiosity. These were both specialist manufacturers that catered for a specialist market - i.e. men of a certain age who spend far too much time trying to perfect coffee. Breville is large public company who make consumer products. They have shareholders and accountants on their Board. There is only ever one winner in a public company when the product development team has a disagreement with the accountants.

    tompoland Fiat got better after VW bought them

    Is that so? Are you sure FIAT is owned by VW? I wasn’t aware.

        MediumRoastSteam I think this is just a misquote from above. Not sure the car analogies are that relevant. BMW only bought the Rolls Royce trademark and makes completely different cars for a different market than RR did.

        The RR and Bentley Business was sold to VW how now make Bentleys (having not acquired the RR trademark) - again very different cars from before for a different market.

        Fiat owned half of Ferrari since the late 60’s then bought more in the 90’s before the whole company went into partnership with Chrysler who spun off Ferrari into a separate entity again fairly recently. Ferrari is one of these unusual companies that probably make more money selling branded caps and watches than they do cars.

            Gagaryn is right re VW/Fiat. My bad. Never a good idea to rely on my memeory. Regardless of who bought who, the point remains that smart companies acquire other companies and tend to grow those brands as separate entities rather than absorb them. IMHO (and with full respect for others who beg to differ) that’s the relevance of the car analogy. Here’s VW acquisitions with these brands and what they stand for typically having been made stronger post acquisition:

            • Audi

            • Bugatti

            • Porsche

            • SEAT

            • Lamborghini

            • Skoda

            • MAN

            • Scania

            • Ducati

            My point being that a smart aquirer makes the aquired brand stronger, not weaker.

            Your honour, I rest my case.

            (As always, time will tell)

                Gagaryn There is only ever one winner in a public company when the product development team has a disagreement with the accountants.

                Yes - @DavecUK has always stated that lelit are a great company for innovating and wanting to improve. They’ve listened to and implemented his suggested improvements to make the product better for the end user. As per quote above I can’t see that continuing (to the same extent anywho!) - pity, I was looking forward to future products. maybe lelit didn’t think they could make better machines by now and thought it time to cash in🤔

                    JahLaza maybe lelit didn’t think they could make better machines by now and thought it time to cash in

                    £100,000,000. That’s a nice retirement for the Epis family.

                        Yeah I think regardless of what happens Lelit have made some incredible machines and I’m still super happy with mine.

                        As long as I can keep getting mine repaired then best of luck to the new partnership!

                        never know - may make the bianca a rare beast in yrs to come. im sitting on a gold mine

                        Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                        tompoland with such acquisitions there is a risk that products become more homogenous and it stifles innovation. An Audi A3 is essentially a VW Golf with a different trim. An Audi R8 is very similar under the hood to a Lamborghini Huracan. Even a Bentley Continental GT shares some cheap parts with an Audi A3!

                        Breville seem like a smart company and they know how to appeal to the average consumer - hopefully they understand when to keep a good thing going…as many have said, time will tell and your typical coffee prosumer is a bit more savvy.

                        In some ways more established manufacturers such as Rancilio become more appealing as they have built there brand on commercial machines.

                          In the very best case scenario, Breville will not ruin Lelit. In the more likely scenario, coffee lovers lose a relatively small innovative specialty player to the greed of money-giants who will never have enough and always want more (and more, and more). For those who like what is going on in the world with the likes of google, amazon, facebook etc. - this might be something to celebrate. For the rest, this is sad news.

                            Doram

                            Hmm, an interesting take on capitalism.

                            Not sure the argument that big = lack of innovation quite holds true, see Apple and Tesla (or the three companies you already mentioned).

                                Mark-drinks-coffee Not sure the argument that big = lack of innovation quite holds true, see Apple and Tesla (or the three companies you already mentioned).

                                Where did I say big companies lack innovation? I said that the reality in which whenever something good grows, anywhere and in any field, it is likely to be gobbled up by bigger money, so that it can make even more money, is a sad thing. I would have preferred to see Lelit continue with what they were doing, as they were doing it, rather than them becoming a part of a huge international appliance conglomerate. In my view, the most likely result of this acquisition is that Breville will gain while everyone else will lose.

                                DavecUK Doram I suspect the prices might rise as well….

                                As above…

                                      Doram In my view, the most likely result of this acquisition is that Breville will gain while everyone else will lose.

                                      Apart from the previous owners/ shareholders who I presume pocket the £100m sale price?

                                      I obviously have no idea what the motivations were for the founders/ owners of Lelit but a number of entrepreneurs/ start ups have the explicit aim of building a company to then be acquired by someone else. They often have this exit strategy from day 1.