Headphone division of Sennheiser goes to Switzerland

Sennheiser is giving up its headphone division, which is being taken over by a Swiss company. The name is to remain the same.

Investor from Switzerland

Back in February of this year, audio technology manufacturer Sennheiser announced its intention to reorganize in order to focus entirely on its Professional division in the future. Last year, the company had also already detached itself from its gaming division. Now it is the turn of the headphone division to be under different management this year. The company had already been looking for investors for its headphone division for some time.

The new Swiss investor then wants to take over the entire headphone division, including speaker systems for home use. The companies involved are Sonova, which provides medical hearing systems. Sennheiser communicated that a takeover intention is also already signed. The takeover is expected to take place towards the end of the second quarter, provided that the regulatory authorities approve it.

The purchase price for the headphone division is said to be 200 million euros, which is quite justified since the division, with its 600 employees, achieves an annual turnover of approximately 250 million euros.

Location and employees may stay

Arnd Kaldowski, head of Sonova, announced that both the location and the employees will be taken over. The background to this is primarily expertise. Sennheiser itself has its site in Wedemark, Lower Saxony, near Hanover, whereas Sonova is based in Stäfe, which is 25 km southeast of Zurich. Not only the location and workforce, but also the name should remain. Therefore, Sonova continues to sell the popular headphones under the name “Sennheiser”. In return, Sonova can contribute something technologically to the headphones. Through its own experience, the voice output and also the battery charge could thus be improved.

The goal of the acquisition is said to be “to keep the team together” and also to “increase the reach.” The company wants to target and reach “potential users of hearing aids” earlier. Arnd Kaldowski went on to say that people with hearing loss often have to wait longer for hearing aids and also sees the acquisition as a “market expansion” to bring them in earlier.