This morning, we woke up to the news that renowned headphone brand Beyerdynamic is being acquired by Chinese OEM manufacturer Cosonic International for €122 million.
It marks a significant moment in the 100-year-old headphone brand's history, which has been family-owned ever since it was founded by Eugen Beyer in Berlin, 1924.
I spoke to Richard Campbell, Beyerdynamic's Managing Director, who spoke positively of the acquisition, which he said will allow Beyerdynamic to grow "bigger and better and beyond" than what it can currently achieve.
Campbell told me that Beyerdynamic has a "phenomenal history and legacy in the pro audio space with our headphone technology and microphone technology, and this just allows us the opportunity to further that and continue that, and hopefully in ways that are bigger and better and beyond what we've been able to do thus far in 100+ years".
Most importantly to our readers in the consumer audio space, he confirmed that products will continue to be handmade and produced in Germany.
Around 85 per cent of Beyerdynamic's microphones and headphones – including the high-end T1 Gen 3, the DT 700 range, the MMX gaming range and Amiron wireless – are handmade at its production site in Heilbronn, Germany.
Campbell said: "The expectation is that we will continue to be handmade in Germany, we expect that we'll continue to develop technology out of Germany as we have been.
"And the leadership team will remain intact as well, so there's an expectation of consistency of what we've been doing and what we want to be doing and how we move forward.
"Our strategic direction doesn't change", he confirmed. "We have a clear focus on pro audio, consumer and gaming – that will continue to be how we prioritise and look forward."
Of the acquisition by Cosonic International, Campell said that "the owners were willing to talk to an interested party, like Cosonic, especially with one that has an audio history as well".
Cosonic currently manufactures and supplies various OEM components for a number of audio brands.
Beyerdynamic currently has the most success in the European and American markets, but there is a desire to grow more internationally and break into other territories.
Campbell stated that the brand's shareholders recognised that this move was required "in order to make future investments".
"The current structure wasn't able to support that, so to be able to have the backing of an entity that's able to help us grow and thrive in international markets in a way that's beyond what we're doing today – this acquisition gives us that opportunity," he said.
"So it's very much a positive thing. It's not related to anything other than that, and then allowing us to fulfil the vision of how we want to grow and build the brand."
It's too early to say what the next steps are, what new products we'll see down the line, or if there will be any substantial change to the current lineup of Beyerdynamic's headphones. The acquisition still needs to go through regulatory approval before the deal is finalised, which will likely take a number of months.
The brand recently announced two new wired headphones: DT 770 Pro X closed-back and DT 990 Pro X open-back, the latter of which we will be reviewing soon.
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