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Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business
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Black Phoenix:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marksparrow/2021/05/07/sennheiser-finds-a-buyer-for-its-consumer-audio-business/?sh=5a6a39856bb0


--- Quote ---Sennheiser, the premium headphone and audio brand, has found a buyer for its consumer business. Sonova Holding AG is based in Switzerland and is a global provider of medical hearing solutions and will take over all of Sennheiser's Consumer Electronics business. The sale is subject to regulatory approval and involves the complete transfer of the business by the end of 2021.
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--- Quote ---Both partners see great potential in the market for speech-enhanced hearables as well as true wireless and audiophile headphones. As part of the partnership, a complete transfer of Sennheiser’s consumer electronics business to Sonova is planned. This move will be aligned with the Sennheiser works councils. For the employees transferring to Sonova, the move to the internationally operating and well-positioned company, headquartered in Switzerland, opens up opportunities for the future. Currently, a total of 600 Sennheiser employees work for Sennheiser’s consumer business.
Arnd Kaldowski, CEO of Sonova
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So the gaming division was sold to Demant A/S in 2019, and now the consumer division to Sonova Holdings AG in 2021. Sennheiser will focus in the professional market from now on. So the HD5**/6**/7**/8** line up is considered consumer.

I don't know how much the consumer line up counts in terms of revenue at the end of the year but I hope that this doesn't come later on to bite Sennheiser ass. At least is not a conglomerate or company that picks up a brand and releases all kind of products using that brand (Anyone remembers Blaupunkt?).

The headphone world sure is changing:

* AKG was acquired by Samsung, gutted, and the talent left to form Austrian Audio.
* The genius behind Sennheiser’s most acclaimed products (Axel Grell) left the company and formed Grell Audio. Now Sennheiser has sold its entire consumer audio business.
* Top talent from B&W was poached by Apple, helping Apple to ascend into the audiophile space while Bowers is no longer what it was.
Oh, and there are all the big players that came out of nowhere, like Meze and Audeze. Even Hifiman and Focal are still pretty new to the scene.

The only constant through all of this seems to be Grado. But John is getting up there in years and we don’t yet know how well Jonathan will carry the mantle. It would be hilarious if this tiny family-run company out of Brooklyn manages to outlive all the massive global audio companies.

Of course not forgetting Beyerdynamic, family owned since 1924.
themadhippy:
sennheiser  always seem to be buying  into various company's only to drop them a few years later,along with any support.
duckduck:

--- Quote from: Black Phoenix on May 07, 2021, 02:02:50 pm ---Top talent from B&W was poached by Apple, helping Apple to ascend into the audiophile space while Bowers is no longer what it was.

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A doggone shame. I remember the first time I heard a pair of Bowers & Wilkins speakers. Oh, joy! Those silk dome tweeters were so smooth! No ear-hole icepick at all, even when they were cranked up! Like the first time drinking a glass of 15 year old Scotch, it was eye(ear?)-opening. In October of 2020, B&W was purchased by Sound United, a division of DEI Holdings, Inc. I'll just leave a little quotation from Wikipedia about Darrell Issa, DEI's first CEO ( from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_Issa#Quantum/Steal_Stopper ):


--- Quote ---After leaving the military, Issa and his second wife, Kathy Stanton, moved back to the Cleveland area. According to Issa, he and his wife pooled their savings, sold their cars (a 1976 Mercedes and a 1967 VW Beetle) as well as a BMW motorcycle, and borrowed $50,000 from family members to invest in Quantum Enterprises, an electronics manufacturer run by a friend from Cleveland Heights that assembled bug zappers, CB radio parts, and other consumer products for other companies. One of those clients, car alarm manufacturer Steal Stopper, would become the path to Issa's fortune. It was struggling badly, and he took control of it by foreclosing a $60,000 loan he had made to it when its founder, Joey Adkins, missed a payment. Adkins remained as an employee.

Issa soon turned Steal Stopper around, to the point that it was supplying Ford with thousands of car alarms and negotiating a similar deal with Toyota. But early in the morning of September 7, 1982, the offices and factory of Quantum and Steal Stopper in the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights caught fire. The fire took three hours to put out. The buildings and almost all the inventory within were destroyed. An investigation of the cause of the fire noted "suspicious burn patterns" with fires starting in two places aided by an accelerant such as gasoline.

Adkins said Issa appeared to prepare for a fire by increasing the fire insurance policy by 462% three weeks previously, and by removing computer equipment holding accounting and customer information. St. Paul Insurance, suspicious of arson and insurance fraud, initially paid only $25,000, according to Issa.
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Another great company turned into a zombie brand.
tszaboo:
Aw man! I really like their headphones, have a whole collection of them, including an about 20 year old HD600. Replaced the cables and the pads, and it's like new. Maybe I should quickly buy that HD800s I always wanted, before anyone touches the design.
tooki:

--- Quote from: themadhippy on May 07, 2021, 02:44:45 pm ---sennheiser  always seem to be buying  into various company's only to drop them a few years later,along with any support.

--- End quote ---
But headphones isn’t something they bought and dropped, never mind after a few years.

At least they should be in good hands with Sonova.
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