Amar Bose gives majority of company stock to alma mater MIT

Yoshita Singh
Boston, May 1 (PTI) Indian-American billionaire Amar
Bose, founder of the iconic Bose Corporation, has given his
alma mater MIT a majority of the stock of his audio equipment
maker company, a gift that fulfills his "long-held desire" to
support education at the prestigious institute.
Massachusetts-based Bose Corp will continue to remain a
private and independent company and MIT cannot sell its Bose
shares.
"Dr Amar Bose has given to MIT (where he also taught) the
majority of the stock of Bose Corporation in the form of
non-voting shares," the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
said in a statement here.
In a letter to Bose Corporation employees, the company's
founder paid tribute to his mentors at MIT -- Professors Y W
Lee, Norbert Wiener and Jerome Wiesner.
He said the gift represents his long-held desire to
support MIT education, and reaffirmed the company's mission to
play for the long run.
"We will continue to remain true to the principles upon
which our company was founded," Bose, 81, wrote to his
employees.
MIT will receive annual cash dividends on those shares
when dividends are paid by Bose Corporation. Those cash
dividends will be used by the institute to "sustain and
advance MIT's education and research mission."
Under the terms of the gift, MIT cannot sell its Bose
shares and will not participate in the management or
governance of the company.
"Bose Corporation will remain a private and independent
company, and operate as it always has, with no change in
strategy or leadership," the letter said.
Bose will remain the company's Chairman and Technical
Director.
Expressing gratitude for the gift, MIT President Susan
Hockfield said on Friday, "Amar Bose gives us a great gift
today, but he also serves as a superb example for MIT
graduates who yearn to cut their own path. Dr Bose set the
highest teaching standards, for which he is still admired and
loved by his faculty colleagues and the many students he
taught."
Noting Bose's generosity and humility, Hockfield said his
"insatiable curiosity propelled remarkable research, both at
MIT and within the company he founded. Dr Bose has always been
more concerned about the next two decades than about the next
two quarters."
Bose received his bachelor's degree, master's degree and
PhD from MIT, all in electrical engineering. He was asked to
join the faculty in 1956, and accepted with the intention of
teaching for no more than two years.
He continued as a member of the MIT faculty until 2001,
making important contributions to the Institute's teaching of
undergraduate electrical engineering.
Hockfield said Bose has asked MIT not to shine "too
bright a spotlight on him today. So to honour that wish, let
us simply celebrate Dr Bose's profound belief in the
transformative power of an MIT education."
Bose Corporation, founded in 1964, has remained privately
owned since its inception, with a focus on long-term research.
The company is known for its high-end audio products,
like the speaker/dock-combo for Apple's iPod, noise-cancelling
headphones and its compact line of Bose Wave speakers.
In March this year, Forbes had estimated Bose's personal
net worth to be one billion dollars.