soundproof:

Am I wrong in remembering that 60% of the shares in B&O are still in the hands of the descendants of the founders? And that only 40% are on the exchange?

It is a little more complicated. I DK we typically have two classes of shares A and B. A-shares has 10 times more voting power than B-shares. The descendants control the firm, but they are not the majority shareholder. You cannot buy A-shares off the market.

Dividends, however, are distributed equally between A and B shares.

Yes, but I do think the split is 60% A shares and 40% B shares. About 40% of the shares are tradeable, I'm being told by my business partner, who does way too much such trading. He'll hate it if I tell him he's wrong, so just let me know.

Christian:

He-he. He'll eat crow. Could be he's thinking of the relative voting power of the shares.

Thanks for the clarification! 

Samsung need B&O for one thing: brand support.

They wouldn't be interested in B&O for design, they have a massive team of excellent designers around the world, including Samsung Europe based in London which drives most of the creative / blue sky concepts: a more creative and informed team would be hard to find (and that includes Lewis' consultancy). 

The current range of Samsung products are excellent, from their GUI  to product design; good work which do not look at B&O but are general contemporary product design. I would actually say that B&O have changed their language recently to become more contemporary and less 'classic B&O'. The BV8, with its radii detailing is a clear example of B&O looking to update their aesthetic values.