Fitbit cofounders James Park and Eric Friedman speak onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco ... [+]
A dozen years after they started Fitbit, cofounders James Park and Eric Friedman are handing off the company they worked so hard to build. The two men agreed to sell the company to Google on Friday in a deal that values the smartwatch maker at $2.1 billion. Park, 43, and Friedman, 42, who currently serve as Fitbit’s CEO and Chief Technology Officer, respectively, will each walk away with as much as $150 million (before taxes) as a result of selling their shares in the publicly traded company, Forbes estimates.
“More than 12 years ago, we set an audacious company vision – to make everyone in the world healthier,” said Park in a statement. “With Google’s resources and global platform, Fitbit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables category, scale faster, and make health even more accessible to everyone. I could not be more excited for what lies ahead.”
Google is paying $7.35 per share in cash for Fitbit shares – markedly less than the $20 price set by the company when it went public in June 2015. Fitbit’s stock sprinted to close at $29.68 on its first day of trading, vaulting Park and Friedman into the ranks of centimillionaires — Forbes pegged Park and Friedman’s stakes at $600 million each on the day of the IPO. In November 2015, both Park and James made Forbes’ list of America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 — with each worth $660 million. Park was age 39 and Friedman was 38 back then.
Over the course of the following year, Fitbit’s stock descended into single-digit territory as it struggled to unveil new products and face down competition from rivals including Garmin. The last time the company’s stock closed above $7.35 a share was in June of last year. It then continued to fall until it hit an all-time low of $2.99 in August this year.
Fitbit reported revenue of $1.5 billion in 2018, a 6% drop from the previous year. The company also posted a net loss of about $186 million last year, extending a three-year stretch of losses going back to 2016. A spokesperson for Fitbit did not immediately return a request for comment.
Park and Friedman each own about 8% of Fitbit’s equity, with Friedman controlling a slightly larger stake than his cofounder. The deal is set to close in 2020, as Google looks to take on competitors like Apple and Samsung in the fast-growing wearables sector.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2019/11/02/heres-how-much-money-the-fitbit-founders-will-get-from-googles-acquisition/
2019-11-02 11:00:22Z
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