Fitbit's Pebble buyout valued at less than $40M, more about fighting Apple than product line

New details about Fitbit's buyout of Pebble have emerged, namely that the deal is more about acquiring software and talent the company needs to fight Apple in the wearable arena, and less about the Pebble product line.

The deal, said to be less than $40 million, is valued below Pebble's existing debts and obligations, according to Bloomberg. Fitbit will not assume Pebble's debt, and is selling off the majority of the company's assets, including existing inventory and IT support equipment.

The vast majority of Pebble's products will be discontinued, including the Pebble 2 which recently started shipping to Kickstarter backers. The Time 2 and Pebble Core will be cancelled, and backers will be refunded.

Most of the company's employees will be out of a job as a result of the acquistion. Only 40 percent of the employee base has been offered a position at Fitbit's San Francisco headquarters — the remainder will be let go outright, or offered a severance package.

Money from the sale will go primarily to Pebble's debt holders and main equity investors. Sources familiar with the matter say that the Pebble stock given to them is essentially worthless.

After a long head start, Fitbit appears to be on the losing end of its battle with Apple regarding wearable technology profits. A recent study regarding holiday season revenue suggests that the Apple Watch is reaping about half of the segment's revenue, similar to the dominance it holds with smartphone profits.

Fitbit's offerings are mostly less expensive than Apple's, with a less robust feature set than the Apple Watch.

25 Comments

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

About 7 years ago

More confusing and contradictory claims from the tech analyst realm. First we are told that Watch sales have plummeted by 71% and that Fitbit (deemed the Android of wearables) is destroying Apple in the wearable arena. Then Apple’s CEO comes forth to call BS on that. So Fitbit buys Pebble for next to nothing and it is claimed this was done to compete better with Apple who is supposedly being crushed by Fitbit. Once again the “market share” vs “profit share” argument comes into play. Apple is being destroyed in the wearable market yet is raking in the majority of the profits in said market. Do tech analysts have multiple personality disorders? Apple is simultaneously doomed and dominating? How does that work anyway?

cali 3494 comments · 10 Years

About 7 years ago

Funny stuff.

though I wonder why Apple doesn't pick up cheap companies. Maybe Apple doesn't need any of their talent.

brucemc 1541 comments · 14 Years

About 7 years ago

lkrupp said:

More confusing and contradictory claims from the tech analyst realm. First we are told that Watch sales have plummeted by 71% and that Fitbit (deemed the Android of wearables) is destroying Apple in the wearable arena. Then Apple’s CEO comes forth to call BS on that. So Fitbit buys Pebble for next to nothing and it is claimed this was done to compete better with Apple who is supposedly being crushed by Fitbit. Once again the “market share” vs “profit share” argument comes into play. Apple is being destroyed in the wearable market yet is raking in the majority of the profits in said market. Do tech analysts have multiple personality disorders? Apple is simultaneously doomed and dominating? How does that work anyway?

For the analysts which put out these 'public' reports, which are meant to be regurgitated by the tech media ad nauseam, there is only one goal - get as many clicks as possible. It is hard to say whether they have any specific agenda against Apple per se - the driving factor is that they know (or have helped create) that stories about Apple get those clicks. Not much of a strategy or agenda beyond that.