Global infotainment and audio group Harman International Industries has acquired St-Louis-based Yurbuds, ‘the US market leader in sports headphones’. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2008, Yurbuds develops in-the-ear and behind-the-ear headphones that are ergonomically and functionally designed specifically for athletes. Yurbuds headphones are available at 19,000 points of sale, including big box general merchandise retailers, sporting goods retailers and more than 750 active lifestyle specialty retailers.
With around 40 employees, Yurbuds has an extensive intellectual property portfolio, including more than 60 patents and 70 trademarks for design and technology, encompassing headphones, wearables and more.
“The talented – and athletic – management team at Yurbuds has helped drive the acceleration of the fast-growing niche of sports headphones and wearables, with best in class design and a rich pipeline of future innovations to enhance the athlete experience,” said Dinesh Paliwal, Harman Chairman, President and CEO.
“We see exciting opportunities to leverage the technologies, brands and distribution systems from our organizations to develop the next generation of headphones designed specifically for athletes.”
Consumer research from Yurbuds shows that more than 70% of consumers won’t work out without music but nearly 90% say their headphones hurt or fall out.
“When it comes to providing a premium audio experience, there’s no better name in the industry than Harman, and we are incredibly excited to join forces to enhance the Yurbuds product line, expand our scale and grow the brand around the world,” said Seth Burgett, CEO and President of Yurbuds.
Burgett and the Yurbuds team will join the Harman Lifestyle Division.
Harman designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment, audio, video and lighting solutions for the automotive, consumer, professional and enterprise markets. Harman is a recognized world leader across its customer and professional segments with premium brands including AKG, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson.
The company also provides leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies for automobiles around the world. Harman has a workforce of 15,200 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia; and reported sales of US$5.1 billion for the last twelve months ended 31 March 2014.
Yurbuds was founded in 2008 by Seth Burgett, an active Ironman triathlete, and Richard Daniels, a 25-time marathoner and Ironman triathlete. Burgett developed the award winning idea for Yurbuds while training for his first Ironman triathlon. An avid cyclist and triathlete, Burgett found that his earphones were painful and fell out of his ears during training.
Burgett and Daniels developed ‘a solution thru ergonomics that have paved the way for Yurbuds to become the leading sport earphone in the US.’ Today, Yurbuds are positioned as being a vital piece of equipment for athletes around the world.
www.harman.com
www.yurbuds.com
