Google buys Nest Labs, its third largest acquisition - The World

The World | 01/14/2014 at 10:51 • Updated 1/14/2014 at 3:04 p.m. | By Sarah Belouezzane

It is for giant Net, the third largest acquisition in its history, after that of the specialist online advertising DoubleClick in 2008 and the brand Motorola phones in 2012. The search engine was the first bought $ 3.24 billion, but had agreed $ 12.5 billion for the mythical American phone manufacturer. The acquisition of Nest Labs has yet to be approved by regulatory authorities and should not be effective for several months.

Unlike French or Withings Netatmo other pioneers of connected objects, Nest Labs is not really known to the French public. The small company was founded in 2010 by Matt Rogers and Tony Fadell, a former Apple employee who had participated in the creation of the iPod, MP3 player launched by the group of Cupertino in the early 2000s.

Nest Labs has quickly specialized in two items in particular: a web-connected thermostat that allows you to continuously monitor the temperature of its focus on its smartphone and a fire alarm detects smoke and CO levels ₂ in the atmosphere.

NO DETAIL ON FINANCIAL RESULTS NEST LABS

“The founders of Nest Labs Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, have built a great team we are delighted to welcome to the Google family. They make wonderful products that you can already buy in stores. We are delighted to make this experience available to more homes and more countries and realize the dreams of two founder s “ said Larry Page, CEO of Google.

According to the statements of the U.S. Internet giant, Nest Labs should, for now, continue to market its products under its own brand, Mr. Fadell and should continue to lead the company. “With the help of Google, Nest Labs will be even better positioned to design products that are simple, smart, that make life easier at home and have an impact on mond e “ Fadell said in a statement.

Nest Labs gives no details on its financial results not yet possible to know its turnover or whether the company is profitable or not. It would, however, according to its creators, “very strong growth” . According to the website dedicated Re / Code, the founders of start-ups were about to complete a round of $ 150 million, valuing the start-up 2 billion, when Google made their proposal.

OUTDOOR MARKET DEVELOPMENT OF TERMINALS CONNECTED

Mr. Fadell, which provides details on the blog Nest Labs, the love affair with Google began in 2011. This year, the two founders had visited the local search engine in Mountain View, California, a short distance from Palo Alto, their own seat, to show prototypes of their products Sergey Brin, co-founder Google and boss of X-labs, the famous secret laboratories of the group. “He immediately understood what we were doing” , enthuses Mr. Fadell.

redemption Nest Labs should allow Google to further develop the growing market of connected devices. An area of ??interest more search engine: after smartphones and tablets designed by his own care, group Mountain View was launched in wearable devices , ie the connected wearable devices.

laboratories are directed by Mr. Brin and outputs, in 2012, the Google Glass, the connected glasses that allow the user to search the Internet or read mails and SMS, directly on a small Plexiglas screen in front of the eyes.

GOOGLE MAKES THE RACE WITH AMAZON AND APPLE

According

forecasts McKinsey, connected objects should create between 2,700 and 6,200 billion of value to the world economy by 2025. A calculation that takes, among others, into account energy savings, job creation and investment returns permitted by these new products.

after Carolina Milanesi, an expert in Kantar Worldpanel, redemption Nest is also Google “ a step in the equipment segment to further improve understanding of the habits and customs of USER Sisters “ The analyst continues: ” Google could use this information to see what they could create new, what products could attract consumers. “

For months, Google is racing with Amazon and Apple to acquire means always better “identify” consumers accumulating personal data. The acquisition of Nest Labs is part of this strategy.

Since its inception in 1998, Google has acquired a hundred companies. Among the most emblematic include YouTube, the platform online video, acquired in 2006 for $ 1.65 billion (1.20 billion euros). Or DoubleClick, a leading e-advertising, swallowed in 2008 to 3.2 billion. In 2012, the Mountain View giant has completed its largest transaction: the acquisition of Motorola, one of the ‘historic’ players in mobile telephony, to $ 12.5 billion. Then in 2013, the group got their hands on the Israeli start-up Waze, specializing in mapping, for a little less than 1 billion.