Would a Big 5 Hearing Aid company pay $350 million to buy Nuheara?
Well it looks like Sonova (Market Cap $17.2B USD) won't be.
Yesterday Sonova chose to go elsewhere, and paid €200 million ($310m AUD) to buy the consumer electronics division of sound company Sennheiser.
What does Sonova, a company that makes hearing aids, want with consumer electronics? Here's the answer:
https://www.reuters.com/article/sennheiser-ma-sonova-hldg/update-2-sonova-to-buy-sennheiser-consumer-unit-to-gain-younger-clients-
idUSL1N2MU07X
Multiple reports and articles confirm that Sonova are after the hearables segment of Sennheiser. After all, Sennheiser make reputedly one of the best Hearables
for sound quality that you can buy.
https://www.cnet.com/news/best-sounding-wireless-earbuds/
The kicker is that while the Sennheiser Momentum (>$300 AUD) are nominated by multiple reviewers as one of the best for sound quality, they are
not really noted as doing a lot for hearing.
In fact, the best True Wireless Earbuds
for hearing assistance is regularly nominated by reviewers as the Nuheara IQBuds2 MAX.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/best-true-wireless-earbuds/
Given that Sonova are a Hearing Aid company, perhaps they missed the best target when buying Sennheiser?
No worries, that still leaves the other Big 4 hearing aid companies to catch up with Sonova.
Of William Demant, GN Resound, Starkey & WS Audiology, from what I've heard over the years, its been William Demant that have done the most "chatting" with Nuheara
Although I've written this post focussing on the point of an acquisition, that's only a small consideration of the significance of Sonova's move yesterday.
I will leave it to other posts and posters to expand on why yesterday's news is massive for the hearables industry, and Nuheara.
Further articles can be found here:
https://www.reuters.com/article/sen...er-unit-to-gain-younger-clients-idUSL1N2MU07X
https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/7/2...heiser-consumer-business-headphones-soundbars
https://www.sonova.com/en/expanding...s-sonova-acquire-sennheiser-consumer-division
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marksp...-its-consumer-audio-business/?sh=2ab9cb9e6bb0
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marksp...-its-consumer-audio-business/?sh=2ab9cb9e6bb0
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(20min delay)