FitBit Revealed to Have Acquired Pebble Watch for $23 Million

By Jay Soriano / 1488107432
(Photo : Facebook) Pebble Watch Announces Acquisition by Fitbit Back in 2016

In a recent Q4 earnings call by Fitbit, the management of the company disclosed that it paid $23 million to acquire Pebble Watch back in 2016. The amount was smaller than expected.

Pebble Watch is known to have raised more than what Fitbit paid them during a Kickstarter fund raising campaign. Aside from that, Pebble also raised funds from other shareholders, but it was not enough to let the firm remain competitive within the up-and-coming market for wearable tech.

According to MobiHealthNews, Fitbit put out a statement a few weeks back which details its plans to get its earnings back on the right track. The plan includes a reorganization of the company, which involves laying off six percent of its workforce to save $200 million.

Fitbit CEO James Park revealed this strategy to get the company back on track.

In other news, Park has confirmed that the firm is building a smartwatch, and it might even be launched as soon as this year. Aside from the smartwatch, the CEO also revealed that Fitbit is looking to expand into health and not just building fitness-centric devices worn on the wrist.

"Similar to when we launched our Surge product and expanded the GPS-enabled watch category, we can broaden the smartwatch category," Park stated. "Even today with a significantly higher average selling price, this adjacent market opportunity more than doubles our addressable market."

Even though Park did reveal plenty of information during the call with investors, most of the details were vague. The Fitbit CEO did, however, highlight the company's cooperation with UnitedHealthcare's Motion as he put out details about expanding further into the health sector.

Aside from the acquisition of Pebble Watch, Fitbit's Q4 report revealed that the company has also acquired Vector Watch for $15 million. The acquisition included the talent and intellectual property of the firm.