GN Store Nord Sells ReSound Hearing Aid Division, Sheds the Business That Defined It

• GN Store Nord is selling its hearing aid division, ReSound, in a deal worth billions of kroner
• The sale is expected to close before the end of 2025, according to Politiken
• GN's stock has underperformed for years, putting pressure on management to act
• The divestiture leaves GN concentrated around its enterprise audio and gaming headset businesses

GN Store Nord, the 155-year-old Danish conglomerate, is selling its ReSound hearing aid division in a deal valued in the billions of kroner, Politiken reports. The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2025. The move strips GN of the business unit that gave it a seat at the global audiology table alongside rivals Sonova, Demant, and WS Audiology.

GN Store Nord traces its origins to 1869, when it was founded to lay telegraph cables across vast stretches of northern Europe and Asia. Over the following century and a half, it reinvented itself repeatedly — from telegraphs to telephony to hearing aids and enterprise audio. ReSound, acquired and built up over decades, became one of the world's top six hearing aid brands and accounted for a substantial share of GN's revenue. Selling it is not a minor portfolio adjustment. It is the amputation of a limb.

The strategic logic, presumably, is focus. GN's other main business is GN Audio — the division behind Jabra headsets and enterprise communication equipment. Management has spent years trying to convince investors that the two divisions belonged under one roof, arguing that shared audio expertise created synergies. The market was unconvinced. GN's share price has been in prolonged decline, falling roughly 70 percent from its 2021 highs as the hearing aid unit faced stiff competition and the Jabra consumer headset business struggled against Apple and Samsung. In early 2025, GN announced it would exit the consumer headset market entirely, writing off that bet. Now ReSound follows.

The identity of the buyer and the precise valuation have not been publicly confirmed. The global hearing aid market is concentrated — Sonova, Demant, and WS Audiology control the bulk of it — and any acquisition by a direct competitor would face antitrust scrutiny. A private equity buyer or a large medical device company entering the space would face fewer regulatory hurdles but would need deep pockets; hearing aid businesses command high multiples because of their recurring revenue from fittings, accessories, and replacement cycles. The price GN secures will be the definitive verdict on whether management held too long or timed the exit well.

Danish pension funds and institutional investors — ATP, PFA, and others — rode GN's stock down through years of strategic ambiguity. Whether the sale price compensates for that patience depends entirely on the number. If the proceeds are returned to shareholders, it amounts to a partial liquidation of a company that once aspired to be a diversified audio technology champion. If reinvested into GN Audio, investors are being asked to trust the same management team with a second act built around a single division in a brutally competitive enterprise hardware market.

What remains of GN Store Nord after the deal closes is a company roughly half its former size, concentrated in a segment where it competes against Microsoft, Poly, and a wave of AI-enabled communication tools. The telegraph company that once connected continents is now, essentially, a headset maker.

Sources: Politiken