Pebble, the shining example of the crowdfunding world, has seen better days as the company hasn’t been performing as well as many have hoped for. That being said, a new rumour has surfaced today that Fitbit is making a bid for Pebble that would see the Pebble brand end for good.
According to a report by The Information, Fitbit has since approached Pebble, offering to buy them out for an undisclosed sum. Anonymous sources has since told Engadget that Fitbit has offered around USD34 to USD40 million to buy out Pebble, an amount that just manages to pay off Pebble’s USD25 million debt.
Pebble’s financial woes isn’t exactly a recent development as the company was forced to layoff 25 percent of its workforce back in March. Not helping matters is the fact that the Pebble Time Round did not perform as well as the company expected it to be.
Should the deal between Fitbit and Pebble go through, The Information has reported that Pebble will be phased out of the market. The report states that Fitbit is buying the company to get access to its technologies and intellectual properties, including its operating system. If that is indeed the case, this could mean that the upcoming Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 would be the last of the Pebble smartwatches.
Source: The Information, Engadget