Sonova buys Sennheiser's headphone division

The Swiss hearing aid manufacturer Sonova is entering the headphone business. The world market leader is taking over the headphone business of the German Sennheiser for 200 million euros, as the two companies announced. Sennheiser's Consumer Division, which also sells loudspeakers, has around 600 employees and generates annual sales of around 250 million euros. Sennheiser's business with professional customers, which includes microphones and wireless transmission technology, will remain with the 75-year-old family company. With the transaction, which is expected to be completed in the second half of the year, Sonova, which was previously focused on medically prescribed hearing aids, is expanding its range. Sennheiser has a strong brand and a broad market presence, both online and in specialist shops. The company sees growth opportunities in the wireless headphones business, among other things. While Sonova is currently primarily addressing people with age-related hearing loss, the company hopes, thanks to Sennheiser, to reach younger customers who use headphones to listen to music and make calls. "Even if they don't have hearing loss, most of them will gradually get hearing loss with age, and devices like Sennheiser's give us earlier access to these people," said Sonova CEO Arnd Kaldowski. Sonova, which generated a profit of 490 million francs on sales of 2.92 billion francs in the 2019/20 financial year, is financing the acquisition from its own coffers. The takeover will make a direct contribution to earnings per share. Sonova will pay license fees for an unlimited period for the use of the Sennheiser brand.