Acquisitions · Consumer electronics
Noritsu Koki buys earbud maker JLab for $370 million
- Buyer
- Noritsu Koki (Tokyo)
- Target
- JLab (Peag LLC), San Diego, California
- Value
- $370M
- Status
- Completed in May 2021.
- Date
- 2021-04-14
Noritsu Koki agreed to buy JLab, a San Diego company that sells low-priced wireless earbuds and headphones, for $370 million. The sellers were investment firms including Catalyst Holdings, Petra Capital Partners and Eagle Private Capital. JLab's chief executive Win Cramer stayed to run the business.
Why it matters
Noritsu, once a maker of photo-printing machines, was rebuilding itself around a group of niche product businesses. JLab became its largest business and gave it a strong position on US store shelves.
About JLab
JLab was founded in 2005. Citing NPD data, it said it was the top US seller of headphones under $50, of true wireless earbuds under $100 and of kids' headphones. Its products were sold in more than 20,000 stores.
How JLab runs now
JLab kept operating as an independent company under its own name. Its sales, marketing, product development, finance and support teams stayed in Southern California, and Noritsu offered money for new products and more retail expansion worldwide.
Noritsu's other audio bet
A year earlier, in April 2020, Noritsu had completed its purchase of AlphaTheta, the maker of Pioneer DJ professional equipment. Adding JLab gave it a consumer audio brand alongside its DJ business.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
