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Google denies reports that it’s discontinuing Fitbit products
(arstechnica.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Either Google continually buys companies for far more than they should or they really suck at buisness. How many times have they aquired healthy companies then absolutely destroyed them? It's hard for me to believe they're not actively trying to at this point.
The point is to exterminate them. To paraphrase another company, embrace, extend, extinguish.
In this case it's more if you can't beat em buy em. But it's from the same school of business.
Yeah, if they are healthy companies they could snag some market share from one of Google's products.
Easier to kill them early.
I would assume some of that is acqui-hiring. Google acquires a company and looks at which employees are the outstanding talent. The best employees are poached for projects Google cares about while the rest are left to keep the product going without the thought leaders who built it.
It means you get to dismantle a competitor, while also retaining the employees otherwise best suited to create a new competitor.
Between Fitbit and Nest, I don't know how they can buy them and not just let them run separately like Waze. They have great brands that were ruined.