Two of Stuff‘s favourite companies — Jabra and SteelSeries — are getting together to make wonderful audio babies. Jabra’s parent company GN Store Nord has signed a deal with the gaming gear specialists that will allow GN to target “…the attractive upscale gaming gear market and [expand] its position in the premium audio market.”
The deal was announced on GN Store Nord’s website, giving all of the details behind the acquisition. The partnership is worth 8 billion Danish Krone, which is around R18.5 billion here at home. That makes SteelSeries quite a valuable company, but it might increase in value even more after this team-up.
Jabra, I just got this epic new SteelSeries gear
Perhaps the best part of the merger, which is expected to be finalised sometime in 2022, is that SteelSeries will continue with its own identity, at least for the moment. SteelSeries CEO Ehtisham Rabbani said that “SteelSeries[…]will continue to be run by the same leadership team and organization that’s driving it now. We’re one of the fastest-growing brands in our industry, and with this new chapter, as an independent business unit of GN, we’ll accelerate this growth.”
GN Audio CEO René Svendsen-Tune said “We have for some time searched for the right way for GN to enter the very interesting gaming market, being keenly interested in the “high-end” segment. SteelSeries delivers on this aspiration of ours and we see a perfect match in terms of technology and commercial capabilities, premium brand positioning, and growth ambitions.”
Exactly how this partnership will work isn’t known yet. It’s likely that SteelSeries will get the benefit of Jabra’s audio skills, with the gaming gear company’s peripherals skills perhaps flowing in the other direction. This would allow GN to release high-quality business gear — like mice, keyboards, and mousepads — to its customer base without stepping on any gaming toes.
