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Fitbit Is Buying Smartwatch Maker Pebble For Around $40 Million, Says Report (techcrunch.com)
According to a report from The Information, Fitbit is buying smartwatch maker Pebble for a "small amount" of money. One source says Fitbit is paying between $34 and $40 million for the company and is "barely covering their debts." TechCrunch reports: A source close to the company told TechCrunch that watch maker Citizen was interested in purchasing Pebble for $740 million in 2015. This deal failed and before the launch of the Pebble 2 Intel made an offer for $70 million. The CEO, Eric Migicovsky refused both offers. Pebble released the newest version of its smartwatch in October, but the past year or so has been a challenging period. It laid off 25 percent of its staff in March, while we reported last year that it was in some trouble and had turned to debt funding and loans, as well as traditional investor cash, "in order to stay afloat." Earlier this year, Pebble CEO Migicovsky confirmed that his company had raised $28 million in debt and venture financing. He blamed a more cautious outlook from VCs focused on tech as the primary reason for letting 40 of Pebble's staff go.
He blamed a more cautious outlook from VCs focused on tech as the primary reason for letting 40 of Pebble's staff go.
In what universe is this quote acceptable?
This man appears to believe that businesses get money from VCs and pays money to employees+suppliers. Last I checked, businesses got money from customers. They'd get /loans/ from banks (but that has to be paid back).
The problem with a lot of SV/Tech startups is that the people involved appear to believe that their income comes from VCs. Their business plan is effectively "Get VC Money, Then Sell Company!"
A depressed market would soon separate the wheat from the chaff.
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
CEOs justify their huge salaries saying that their decisions have multi-million dollar affects on a company. Well in this case the CEO gave up a 740 million deal and has to settle for a 40 million dollar deal so he lost 700 million for the company. The employees should sue him in a personal capacity for everything's hes got.
**Life is too short to be serious**
Fitness bands and smartwatch sales are tanking. It looks like it's just a fad.
Or the technology isn't there yet.
Remember the 'fad' of the Palm Pilot and Apple Newton? The technology wasn't there yet and now smartphones.