Fitbit Attempted to Buy Jawbone in Effort to Overtake Apple’s Watch

Wearable maker Fitbit attempted to acquire rival company Jawbone, perhaps in an effort to better equip itself to battle the Apple Watch’s claim on the smartwatch market, a new report claims.

Fitbit approached its apparently struggling competitor in December, with an interest in acquiring Jawbone’s assets and intellectual property, according to the Financial Times. Talks quickly stalled, however, as Fitbit suggested a price that was reportedly a “tiny fraction” of Jawbone’s estimated value of $1.5 billion. Jawbone refused the offer.

If it had gone through, the sale would have settled the outstanding legal battles between the two companies. Those litigations include patent infringement claims, as well as allegations of Fitbit stealing corporate secrets from Jawbone by poaching employees who had knowledge of “trade secrets.” The International Trade Commission cleared Fitbit of the charge in August 2016, Business Insider reported.

Fitbit also recently terminated one of those patent suits due to Jawbone’s alleged financial struggles — saying that its competitor’s shares were “worth nothing,” TechCrunch reported. Jawbone disputed those claims, calling it “baseless.”

Jawbone, for its part, is reportedly close to securing funds from a new investor — which could allow the company to stand on its own, and might have explained Jawbone’s decision to decline Fitbit’s offer. Jawbone has been struggling in recent years, however. In 2016, the company allegedly stopped manufacturing its flagship UP wearables, and was attempting to sell its speaker business, as well, according to TechInsider.

The proposed Jawbone acquisition lines up with Fitbit’s latest buying streak. Just a few days ago, the wearable giant acquired smartwatch startup Vector. And in early December, Fitbit purchased Pebble, the Kickstarter darling and independent smartwatch company. But while Fitbit might be trying to edge its way into the smartwatch market, it will still face stiff competition from Cupertino. When it comes to smartwatches, Apple is still the top dog with 70.2 percent of the market share in 2016’s third quarter.

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