Knowles Corporation (KN): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

When you look at a specialty technology company like Knowles Corporation (KN), do you see a small-cap player or a critical industrial partner with a market capitalization around $1.93 billion as of late 2025? After strategically divesting its consumer microphone business, Knowles has cemented its focus on high-margin, defensive sectors, which is why its Q3 2025 revenue from continuing operations hit $153 million, up 7% year-over-year. This shift means the company's mission to enrich life by enabling superior audio experiences is now largely powered by its MedTech and Defense segments, not just your smartphone, so understanding this new model is defintely crucial.

Are you tracking the real value drivers behind a component manufacturer whose MedTech & Specialty Audio segment alone grew 10% in Q2 2025 to $67 million? We'll break down the history of this 1946-founded pioneer, the institutional ownership structure-where firms like BlackRock Inc. hold significant stakes-and exactly how its precision components translate into consistent revenue, giving you the full picture.

Knowles Corporation (KN) History

You're looking for the foundational story of Knowles Corporation, and honestly, you have to look past the NYSE ticker (KN) to appreciate the seven decades of engineering that built this company. It's a classic case of a specialist firm becoming a market leader by solving one very hard, tiny problem, and then strategically pivoting when the market shifts. They didn't start in consumer tech; they started in hearing health, and that original DNA is still driving their high-margin focus today.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

Knowles Corporation was founded in 1946, right at the close of World War II, a time when technological innovation was exploding in the US.

Original location

The company was established in Itasca, Illinois, which remains the location of its principal executive offices today.

Founding team members

The company was founded by Hugh Knowles, an accomplished American acoustical engineer and inventor who held over 50 patents in the field.

Initial capital/funding

While the exact initial capital isn't public, the founding vision was driven by the post-war need for reliable, high-quality acoustical devices, spurring a focus on hearing assistance technology from the start.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The history of Knowles Corporation is marked by two major strategic shifts that fundamentally changed its business model, moving it from a component supplier to a specialized industrial technology firm. The first was the 2014 spin-off, but the second, more recent pivot is what you need to focus on for current valuation.

The first major moment was the 2014 spin-off from Dover Corporation. This move was critical because it gave the new Knowles Corporation management the autonomy to pursue a dedicated growth strategy in high-performance acoustics and specialty components, which was a defintely necessary step for market focus.

The second, and arguably most important, transformation was the strategic reorientation completed in late 2024. This involved a massive portfolio cleanup:

• Divesting the Consumer MEMS Microphone business for $150 million to focus on higher-margin, defensive sectors like MedTech and Defense.
• Acquiring Cornell Dubilier for $263 million in late 2023, immediately expanding the Precision Devices segment into high-performance capacitors for industrial electrification and defense applications.

This pivot means the company is no longer primarily chasing volume in the volatile consumer electronics market. Instead, it's focusing on custom-engineered solutions where component failure is simply not an option, like medical implants or military applications. For the full fiscal year 2025, management is confident that this focus will drive organic revenue growth of 6%, with an outlook for Q4 2025 revenue between $151 million and $161 million. That's a fundamentally different, and more resilient, business model than they had five years ago. You can dive deeper into the financial implications of this shift by reading Breaking Down Knowles Corporation (KN) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Knowles Corporation (KN) Ownership Structure

Knowles Corporation (KN) is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and its ownership structure is heavily weighted toward large institutional investors, a common pattern for mid-cap technology and industrial firms.

This high institutional control means strategic decisions, including capital allocation and executive compensation, are defintely influenced by the interests of major asset managers like Vanguard and iShares, not just retail shareholders.

Knowles Corporation's Current Status

Knowles Corporation is a public company traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol KN. As of November 2025, the company's market capitalization stands at approximately $1.81 Billion USD, reflecting its position as a leading manufacturer of specialty electronic components, particularly after its strategic divestiture of the Consumer MEMS Microphone business in late 2024.

The company is focused on high-value markets, operating through segments like Precision Devices (PD) and Medtech & Specialty Audio (MSA), which you can read more about in Breaking Down Knowles Corporation (KN) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Knowles Corporation's Ownership Breakdown

The company's stock is overwhelmingly owned by institutions, which hold nearly all the shares. This concentration of ownership gives significant voting power to a few large investment firms.

Here's the quick math on who holds the equity as of the most recent filings in November 2025:

Knowles Corporation's Leadership

The company is steered by a seasoned management team with an average tenure of 8.3 years, which suggests stability in strategic execution. This experience is crucial as the company continues its transformation into a premier industrial technology firm.

• Jeffrey S. Niew: President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). His total yearly compensation is reported to be $6.87 Million.
• John Anderson: Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
• Daniel Giesecke: Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer (COO).
• Robert J. Perna: Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary.
• Jon Kiachian: President, MedTech & Specialty Audio (MSA).

The leadership's focus, as demonstrated by the Q4 2025 guidance and recent divestitures, is on driving revenue and earnings growth by concentrating on the higher-value MedTech, Defense, and Industrial markets.

Knowles Corporation (KN) Mission and Values

Knowles Corporation's core purpose is to elevate the human experience by perfecting sound and signal quality, a commitment that goes beyond revenue and drives their strategic shift toward high-reliability, high-value markets like MedTech and Defense.

This focus on enriching life through superior audio experiences is the cultural DNA guiding their product development, which is why their MedTech & Specialty Audio (MSA) segment delivered a 10% year-over-year revenue increase to $67 million in Q2 2025. You can see this dedication to critical applications in Exploring Knowles Corporation (KN) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Knowles Corporation's Core Purpose

The company's mission and vision are not just plaques on a wall; they are the filter for capital allocation, especially after the strategic divestiture of the Consumer MEMS Microphones business for approximately $150 million in late 2024. Here's the quick math: they are doubling down on components that literally save or improve lives, like those used in hearing aids and defense systems. That's a clear action mapping to their stated purpose.

Official Mission Statement

The formal mission statement is a concise declaration of their value to the world, emphasizing the end-user benefit of their advanced micro-acoustic and electronic components.

• Enrich life by enabling superior audio experiences.

This statement is defintely reflected in their Q3 2025 revenue of $152.9 million, which was up 7.3% from the prior year, showing that the market is rewarding their focus on quality and reliability.

Vision Statement

The vision statement sets an ambitious, future-oriented target for market leadership, positioning Knowles Corporation as a pioneer rather than a follower in their specialized fields.

• To become the leading global innovator of high-performance audio solutions.

To be fair, this vision is supported by tangible investments, such as the launch of high-performance inductors for mission-critical Radio Frequency (RF) applications in July 2025, which expands their total addressable market.

Knowles Corporation's Core Values

Their five core values describe the behaviors and principles that underpin their operations, from the R&D lab in Itasca, Illinois, to their global manufacturing sites.

• Innovative: Take smart risks and leverage deep expertise to develop emerging technologies.
• Passionate: Work to discover new solutions that improve people's lives.
• Agile: Anticipate the velocity of an ever-changing industry.
• Trustworthy: Be an honest and dependable partner who delivers on promises.
• Empowered: Celebrate bright, creative people whose contributions drive change.

Knowles Corporation's Slogan/Tagline

While a single, short consumer-facing tagline is less common for a B2B specialty component manufacturer, their identity centers on the critical nature of their products.

• Components that must perform flawlessly in critical situations.

The company's focus on extreme reliability and custom engineering is their true tagline in the industrial and defense sectors. This commitment is why they repurchased $30 million in shares in Q2 2025 and an additional $20.0 million in Q3 2025, demonstrating confidence in their long-term value creation driven by these core principles.

Knowles Corporation (KN) How It Works

Knowles Corporation operates as a specialized industrial technology company, designing and manufacturing high-performance electronic components for demanding, non-consumer markets. It creates value by providing custom-engineered micro-acoustic and precision device solutions that are critical for applications in medical technology, defense, and industrial sectors.

The company's model shifted significantly in late 2024 with the divestiture of its Consumer MEMS Microphone business, so the focus is now entirely on higher-margin, resilient sectors. This strategic pivot is why you see such a strong performance in the Precision Devices segment, which pulled in $88 million in revenue for Q3 2025, a 12% year-over-year increase.

Knowles Corporation's Product/Service Portfolio

Knowles Corporation's Operational Framework

Knowles' operational framework is built on deep customer application intimacy and proprietary manufacturing techniques, which allows them to move from custom design to scalable production. This isn't a commodity business; it's about engineering solutions that must perform flawlessly in critical environments. For example, their focus on the MedTech segment requires components with extreme reliability and miniaturization capabilities for devices like implantable medical devices.

Here's the quick math on their recent performance: total revenue from continuing operations for the third quarter of 2025 was $153 million, up 7% from the prior year, with a gross profit margin of 45.7%. That margin shows the value of their specialized, non-commodity approach.

Key operational drivers include:

• Custom Engineering: Designing components tailored to specific, demanding customer needs in defense and medical applications.
• Proprietary Manufacturing: Leveraging unique production processes, like the ongoing expansion of specialty film capacity to meet robust demand in energy and industrial markets.
• Proximity Manufacturing: Strategically positioning production closer to customers to mitigate supply chain risks and ensure timely delivery.

You need to know how the company thinks about its long-term direction, and you can read more about that here: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Knowles Corporation (KN).

Knowles Corporation's Strategic Advantages

The company's competitive edge comes from its strategic focus on markets where component failure is not an option, which creates high barriers to entry for competitors. They defintely aren't competing on price alone.

The core advantages that enable their market success as of late 2025 are:

• High-Value Market Specialization: The strategic pivot to MedTech, Defense, and Industrial sectors provides a more stable, higher-margin revenue base compared to volatile consumer electronics.
• Technical Expertise and IP: Decades of experience in micro-acoustics and precision devices, combined with a strong intellectual property (IP) framework, protects their unique technology.
• Strong Design Win Momentum: A healthy backlog and consistent success in securing new design wins, particularly in the Precision Devices segment, is driving anticipated full-year 2025 organic revenue growth of 6%.
• Financial Flexibility: Robust cash generation, including $29 million in net cash from operations in Q3 2025, allows for disciplined capital allocation like share repurchases and debt reduction.

Knowles Corporation (KN) How It Makes Money

Knowles Corporation makes money by designing and manufacturing highly specialized electronic components-like advanced MedTech microphones and high-reliability capacitors-for demanding, high-value markets, primarily MedTech, Defense, and Industrial sectors. This strategy focuses on custom-engineered solutions that command higher average selling prices (ASPs) rather than high-volume consumer electronics.

Knowles Corporation's Revenue Breakdown

The company's revenue engine is split between two high-margin segments, a structure solidified after the late 2024 divestiture of its lower-margin Consumer MEMS Microphone business. The Precision Devices segment is the larger contributor, but MedTech & Specialty Audio shows faster growth. Here's the quick math based on the Q2 2025 results, which totaled $146 million in revenue.

Business Economics

The core of Knowles Corporation's business economics is a deliberate shift toward defensive, high-barrier-to-entry markets. They are not chasing the volatile smartphone cycle anymore; they are serving customers who need mission-critical components where failure is not an option, like hearing health devices or defense systems.

• Pricing Power: The monetization strategy centers on custom-engineered solutions, which allows Knowles to charge higher average selling prices, especially for new product introductions.
• Resilient Demand: The MedTech market, particularly hearing health, has historically shown resilience during economic downturns, averaging a 2-3% annual growth rate over the last two decades.
• Strategic Focus: The Precision Devices segment, which includes RF filters and high-reliability capacitors, is benefiting from secular growth trends in electrification and defense, which provide a long-term, stable backlog.

Honestly, the move away from consumer electronics was a smart one; it stabilized margins and made the revenue stream defintely more predictable.

Knowles Corporation's Financial Performance

The company's financial health in 2025 reflects the success of its strategic transformation, showing sequential and year-over-year growth. Q3 2025 revenue came in strong at $152.9 million, up 7% year-over-year. The Q4 2025 revenue guidance is also optimistic, projected to be between $151 million and $161 million.

• Profitability: Non-GAAP Gross Margin in Q3 2025 was a healthy 46.2%, a key indicator of the value they capture from their specialized products.
• Earnings Per Share (EPS): Non-GAAP diluted EPS hit $0.33 in Q3 2025, beating consensus estimates and showing a clear upward trajectory from the Q2 2025 result of $0.24.
• Cash Flow and Leverage: Knowles generated strong Net Cash from Operations of $36 million in Q2 2025 and $29.1 million in Q3 2025, which helps fund share repurchases and debt reduction. Their net debt leverage ratio was a conservative 0.7x as of Q1 2025, providing significant financial flexibility.

For a deeper dive into the balance sheet and liquidity, you should check out Breaking Down Knowles Corporation (KN) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors. Anyway, the strong cash generation allows them to reduce debt and execute share repurchases, which is a clear sign of management's confidence in the business model.

Knowles Corporation (KN) Market Position & Future Outlook

Knowles Corporation has successfully completed its strategic pivot toward high-margin, high-reliability markets, positioning itself as a specialized leader in advanced micro-acoustic and precision device solutions. The company anticipates achieving full-year 2025 organic revenue growth of 6%, driven by strong demand in its core MedTech and Precision Devices segments, with trailing 12-month revenue as of September 30, 2025, standing at approximately $574 million.

Competitive Landscape

In the highly fragmented electronic components industry, Knowles Corporation competes by focusing on proprietary technology and custom engineering, which creates a high barrier to entry in its core markets like hearing health and defense.

Note: Market Share for competitors is estimated based on their Q2 2025 revenue relative to the total global electronic components market size of $428.22 billion in 2025, illustrating scale, not direct competition in Knowles' niche.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's future performance hinges on capturing growth in electrification and MedTech while managing macroeconomic volatility and pricing pressure.

Industry Position

Knowles Corporation is a crucial supplier in specialized, high-reliability component markets, a position solidified by its strategic divestiture of the lower-margin Consumer MEMS Microphone business in late 2024.

• Focus on high-performance components: The Precision Devices segment, which provides high-performance capacitors and radio frequency (RF) solutions, remains a key revenue driver.
• MedTech strength: The MedTech & Specialty Audio segment saw a 10% year-over-year revenue increase in Q2 2025, demonstrating resilience in the hearing health market.
• Innovation pipeline: The company launched high-performance inductors in July 2025, expanding its total addressable market in mission-critical RF applications.
• Financial health: Q3 2025 revenues from continuing operations reached $152.9 million, with a Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.33, showing strong execution on its focused strategy.

You can see a deeper dive into the numbers here: Breaking Down Knowles Corporation (KN) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors. Defintely check the Q4 2025 guidance range of $151 million to $161 million for revenue to gauge near-term momentum.