Fitbit's own release names no price for Pebble's assets

The record

On 7 December 2016, Pebble Technology Corp. posted an update to its own original Kickstarter campaign page, stating that 'Fitbit has agreed to acquire key Pebble assets' and that, 'due to various factors, Pebble can no longer operate as an independent entity.' The post says Pebble was 'ceasing all hardware operations' immediately, that active Pebble watches already in use would keep working, and that backers with unfulfilled Kickstarter rewards — Time 2, Core and Time Round — would be refunded by March 2017 rather than receive hardware; backers who had already received a Pebble 2 were not eligible for a refund on that unit. The same day, Fitbit, Inc. issued its own press release confirming the transaction.

What the documents establish

Fitbit's press release states the transaction was completed on 6 December 2016, and that Fitbit 'acquired specific assets of Pebble, including key personnel and intellectual property related to software and firmware development,' specifying that 'the acquisition excludes the company's hardware products.' Neither Pebble's backer update nor Fitbit's press release states a purchase price; no figure for the deal is established by either company's own account, and none is asserted in this note. The two documents agree on substance — personnel and software IP moved to Fitbit, hardware did not — while each is addressed to a different audience: Pebble's post to its Kickstarter backers, Fitbit's to its shareholders and the financial press.

The operating read

This is an editorial read. A reader trying to price this kind of asset acquisition from the two companies' own disclosures will not find a number; both statements describe scope — what moved, what did not — rather than consideration. A dollar figure reported elsewhere for a transaction like this would need its own sourcing before being treated as an established fact alongside these two company statements.

What to check before you decide

Before citing figures for an asset-only acquisition, check what the parties' own statements actually cover.

• Do both companies' own statements describe the same scope of assets, or does one imply more than the other confirms?
• Is a purchase price stated by either party, or only estimated or reported by an outside source?
• Does either statement address what happens to existing customers' hardware, separately from the personnel and IP transferred?

Pebble's own backer update and Fitbit's own press release together establish that specific software, IP and personnel moved to Fitbit on 6 December 2016, that Pebble hardware sales ended, and that a refund process covered unfulfilled Kickstarter rewards. Neither document establishes a purchase price, and this note does not supply one.