Valentina Palladino, reporting for Ars Technica:
"Pebble has been looking to sell for a while, likely due to these financial woes, but it has turned down offers in the past. Citizen offered Pebble $740 million for the company back in 2015. Intel also wanted to buy Pebble for $70 million earlier this year, but it would have required a delay in the launch of the Pebble 2 and the Pebble Time 2."
"The Information reports that the Pebble brand will likely be phased out after the acquisition since Fitbit is interested in Pebble's intellectual property and its operating system. This makes sense considering Fitbit has always been a fitness-focused company, whereas Pebble started in smartwatches and has only recently tried to make their products more fitness-friendly."
Fitbit is finally playing their card and has taken on the role of the bargain shopper. As early as last year, Pebble could have gotten $740 million in a buyout from Citizen. Instead, just a year later, they will be sold for scrap at last than 10% of that price because of how over crowded and competitive the wearable space has become.
Don't get me wrong, this is a win-win situation, which will prevent Fitbit from releasing another lukewarm smartwatch & keep Pebble's ambitious ideas from being lost in a crowded space. This will be a beneficial buyout for both parties, with many ideas that match up, but will likely come at the cost of the Pebble name and fun loving, Kickstarter loving, public ethos.