Raspberry maker sold to Swiss firm for £700m

Antony Savvas (a_savvas@yahoo.co.uk),
AcquisitionsEducation

The pioneering device is now facing stiff competition from the BBC Micro:Bit

Raspberry Pi’s manufacturer Premier Farnell is being bought by Swiss electronics firm Daetwyler Holdings for 1bn Swiss francs (around £700 million).

Daetwyler distributes more than 500,000 electronics products under brands including Nedis.

BBC micro-bit CodingPremier Farnell recently cut shareholder dividends and sold its industrial products business Akron Brass for $224 million.

With over 8 million units sold since 2012, the Raspberry Pi mini computer is the most popular British computer ever made.

It has been used by hobbyists and young coders in schools and the home, and an extensive ecosystem has been generated around the Pi, with developers providing a large range of add-ons for the device.

The introduction of the BBC micro:bit across all schools for free however may provide tough competition for the Raspberry, and the BBC machine is now also generally available to buy, putting further pressure on.

@AntonySavvas