<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4611.1300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2>We've talking about Baldwin's last gasps. Now what's = going on at Samick? The April issue of Music Trades published the = following:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>The article states that Gibson Musical Instruments = was close to acquiring Samick Akki Ltd., the Korean-based manufacturer of Samick = and Kohler & Campbell pianos and Samick guitars. The article states that = Gibson is negotiating to buy the majority share of the company from the Korea = Exchange Bank, Samick's largest shareholder. The purchase price was estimated to = be $138 million. It is predicted the transaction would be completed by early May.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>The story has several more paragraphs in the article = describing the Samick operations. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>At the NAMM Show in January there were rumors that = Samick might be interested in Baldwin. Now this news about Samick being sold. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Another Music Trades article in March 2001 talks = about the proliferation of new piano names at the NAMM Show. The article then = states that sales figures for this year were unlikely to break 100,000 units. Sales = in 1976 were 246,000. Now wonder Kimball, Wurlitzer and others are no longer = with us.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Sy Zabrocki</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>