Fitbit Set To Acquire Pebble For $40M

Fitbit has been soaring in popularity since its inception while Pebble has been struggling to keep up with the market. This has made it easier for the more successful fitness wearable maker to absorb the other one for a reported price of $40 million. The number isn’t confirmed yet, but if it turns out to be true, it’s a much lower price than what the startup company would have gotten before.

Pebble is set to be acquired by Fitbit in short order, The Information reports, though there has been no confirmation from either side of the details. The publication got its information from three sources close to the situation, and although the exact amount that Pebble would be selling for is unknown, it’s thought to be a pittance.

Should the acquisition pull through, Pebble will be shutting down its operation little by little as Fitbit absorbs its assets and intellectual property. This is a particularly grim end for a promising startup that earned over $20 million in crowdfunding campaign earnings.

This isn’t actually the first time that Pebble was offered money to be acquired by another company as TechCrunch reports that Citizen had proposed to buy the startup for a sizeable $740 million. The deal went nowhere, which is probably something that the failing fitness wearable company is regretting now, owing to the lost hundreds of millions.

Pebble apparently had another opportunity to sell for a larger amount than $40 million as well, when Intel reportedly offered to buy it for $70 million after Pebble 2 was launched. As with the Citizen offer, the startup’s CEO Eric Migicovsky refused to budge.

Unfortunately, it would seem that the company head’s choice was a bad one as Pebble endured a grueling year, where they had to resort to debt funding, among other desperate moves. Along with the large numbers of layoffs, Migicovsky effectively led his company to ruin.