inMusic has shut down the Native Instruments UK office, and the CEO and CTO had to leave

inMusic has shut down the Native Instruments UK office and replaced the CEO and CTO with a new in-house chief executive officer.

A month ago, rumors circulated that Native Instruments had laid off 100 people (more or less). This was in almost every department. According to former employees, the support department was completely shut down.

The restructuring measures initiated with the acquisition by inMusic are not yet complete. Now it’s the turn of the higher positions and Native Instruments’ UK office.

August 2026

Six days ago, a Reddit user posted the news that the layoffs are continuing: “The layoffs continue: InMusic just fired the whole native instruments UK office. … What everyone already thought about InMusic turns out to be correct once again.“ Übersetzt

According to MusicTech, the layoffs included the Product Manager, Product Designer, Engineering Manager, CFO, VP Global Marketing, as well as the Senior Product Designer and Senior Product Engineer.

They had major roles for products like Komplete, Kontakt, or Maschine. One famous face of this could be Tim Adnitt, the president of the MIDI Association and VP of Product and Sound Design at Native Instruments. He is still listed as being with NI on LinkedIn, but that information may not be up to date.

Official company documents from July also unveiled that Native Instruments’ CEO Nick Williams and Chief Product and Technology Officer Simon Cross have apparently been dismissed. It looks like they have been replaced by Richard Seymour, CEO of inMusic Europe.

The familiar reshuffling of positions after takeovers. The previous ones are ousted and replaced with those from within the company.  The man who just a few months ago said “business as usual” during bankruptcy proceedings now has to look for a new job himself.

inMusic Statement

In a statement issued to MusicTech, InMusic Brands says: 

“As part of the ongoing integration of Native Instruments into the inMusic family of brands, we are simplifying our organisational and legal structure, including Native Instruments UK.

This includes removing layers that were established to support a private equity ownership model, as well as streamlining other areas of the business to create a faster, more efficient organisation focused on innovation, customers, and long-term growth.

“We recognise the impact these changes have on affected employees and are committed to supporting them throughout the transition.

“Native Instruments remains a strategically important part of inMusic, and our commitment to the brand is unchanged. Product development continues at a strong pace, with major new hardware and software initiatives already underway for 2027 and beyond.”

InMusic also published an interview with its global CEO and founder, Jack O’Donnell, where they say, “The future for NI, I can assure you, is very exciting, very bright, and very secure.”

Those who followed the Moog takeover in 2023 will recognize familiar patterns. People are laid off, departments are merged or closed entirely, etc.

Although Jack O’Donnell says in the video, “The future for NI is very exciting…” a lot of people had to leave the company. That’s anything but good news.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Native Instruments under the new inMusic leadership. There will certainly be more news. The restructuring is not yet complete.

Update from July 16, 2026

inMusic, the new owner of Native Instruments, has apparently laid off around 100 individuals from nearly all departments.

The great Native Instruments alliance is history. All the companies have new owners. iZotope is with Boris FX, Plugin Alliance and Brainworx are back with Dirk Ulrich, and Native Instruments is with inMusic.

As you can read from various online posts, inMusic is currently restructuring the entire NI company. As feared, with a bad outcome for the employees

inMusic Native Instruments Layoffs

A former employee, who wishes to remain anonymous and is affected by these changes, reports 100 layoffs across various departments.

He says in the post that the entire NI customer support team was terminated and that this was set up by inMusic as part of their buy. That this would happen was foreseeable because inMusic has centralized support for its brands.

The ex-employee writes:

It has occurrend across in nearly all departments (around 100 individuals) and will keep happening. I found out the entire customer support team was terminated. This was set up by inMusic as part of their buy 

The organization is a mess, and I have little faith it will get better considering the individuals they’ve chosen to lead.

Customers don’t matter right now despite what you hear or read about the company or inMusic AMA (I won’t answer questions about what I do as they will try to figure out who is behind this post). (Creating a new account for safety reasons and to avoid legal issues).

The electronic musician “Unders” writes in another Reddit post also about mass layoffs in NI, multiple staff in development, hardware, and support.

More, he writes that some have been given “garden leave” until September, where their roles (hardware development, for example), might get rolled into the other brands. I can also confirm that I have received messages from former employees who have been dismissed.

Neither inMusic nor Native Instruments has published any public news about this. Therefore, I can only confirm what I know from the people I know. 

It seems that what I feared has now come to pass. inMusic is shrinking NI and merging many areas with other existing company departments. This will result in the loss of jobs currently held by two people. That’s very sad for the ex Native team. 

I hope those who are being laid off find new jobs in the music tech industry or elsewhere and are happy again. These are good, talented people, not soulless AI agents whose work lives have been taken away from them.

It’s sad, but that’s how business is in a big brand, or as the NI CEO once said: Business continues as usual.

Article from May 9, 2026

Superbooth 2026: inMusic has today announced the acquisition of Native Instruments, including all subbrands such as iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx.

The second day of Superbooth 2026 began quietly—until a piece of news made the rounds that became the topic of the day: Native Instruments has a new home.

Jack O’Donnell’s inMusic will, in all likelihood, acquire Native Instruments in the coming weeks. The final signatures are still pending; therefore, it is not yet a finalized acquisition.

inMusic and Native Instruments today announced that inMusic has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Native Instruments, the Berlin-based music technology company behind some of the most widely used creative tools in music production.

inMusic Native Instruments

It is gratifying to hear that the lengthy discussions with interested parties have now proven successful.

The number of non-private equity firms capable of shouldering the financial stakes here is limited. These companies, like Yamaha, Focusrite, and inMusic, ultimately won the race.

I could have imagined new tech companies like Splice or Landr doing this as well—though I’m not sure if they could financially pull it off. Now, inMusic has acquired Native Instruments—or is in the process of doing so, as the ink hasn’t yet dried on all the documents.

You can be for it or against it. I think it is more welcome that inMusic plans to acquire the Berlin-based company rather than another private equity firm playing the same game as the others.

Given that NI had already worked closely with Akai in 2025—integrating the Play Series into the standalone MPCs and NKS into their MIDI controllers—this acquisition makes even more sense. One could almost believe that this move from 2025 served as a teaser for what would later become reality.

“Native Instruments represents everything we look for in a partner: exceptional products, a deeply engaged community, and a clear point of view on what musicians want,” said Jack O’Donnell, CEO of inMusic.

“Our work together has already shown how strong this combination can be. Bringing these platforms together allows us to move faster, deepen integration, and build better tools for creators.”

If you look back ten years, would you have believed that industry giants like Moog, Native Instruments, Sequential, and Oberheim would no longer be independent entities, but rather part of even larger corporations? Crazy to see. 

More Than Native Instruments

The name Native Instruments always comes up in this context; however, Jack O’Donnell’s brand will be taking over all the companies operating under the NI umbrella in the future: iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx.

Not just brands: inMusic will also acquire a massive software catalog—including the Komplete bundle with best-sellers like Kontakt, Massive, and Reaktor, as well as mastering tools such as Ozone, RX, and more.

This will massively expand inMusic’s software portfolio. Air Music Tech—their in-house brand—simply couldn’t compete with these.

It will be interesting to see how Native Instruments is integrated into inMusic—whether products are dropped from the portfolio, or even appear within other products (such as elements of Kontakt or Massive showing up in the MPC, etc.).

Yes, we have in-house competing products: MPC vs Maschine, or Komplete vs Akai/M-Audio/Alesis MIDI controllers. And what will happen to more niche products like Reaktor?

“Every brand in the inMusic family was built by people who love music, and every decision we make is guided by what musicians want,” O’Donnell added. “It is what Native Instruments has always stood for too.

That shared belief is the foundation of everything we will build together. Our commitment is simple: continued investment across all brands and product lines, and a long-term focus on innovation that serves creators at every level. The tools you rely on today will keep working, and the tools you will rely on tomorrow are actively being built.” 

Just as interesting—if not even more so—are the employees. What happens next here? Will operations continue with the same team, or will the work at NI be taken over by existing inMusic staff, forcing the others to make way? 

“Finding the right partner has been our goal throughout this process,” said Nick Williams, CEO of Native Instruments. “With inMusic we have found a partner whose beliefs and ambitions align with ours — and whose understanding of what these brands mean to musicians and producers gives us real confidence in what comes next. This is the beginning of a new chapter for Native Instruments and for the community that has stood with us. ”

Business continues normally across all Native Instruments brands and territories. Products, services, platforms, and customer support remain fully available. The companies are working towards the transaction completing in the coming weeks, subject to customary closing conditions.

Further information on integration plans will be shared as the process progresses.

If everything goes according to plan, Native Instruments will soon have a new home at inMusic. This is good news. The company lives on. The future will tell us what inMusic’s plans with NI are. 

More information here: Native Instruments 

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