Jawbone; the company that pioneered Bluetooth headsets and wireless speakers before turning its focus to health & fitness trackers, is going out of business and has begun liquidating assets, after 18 years. With 450 employees and a valuation of $3 Billion in early 2015, the company had among the most hyped fitness trackers; but logistics issues, competition from companies like FitBit (FIT) and a softening market for wearable fitness tech has caused the company to struggle since. Jawbone has a pending lawsuit against Fitbit (FIT) and 5 former employees over the alleged theft of trade secrets.
Jawbone Is Going Out of Business
Howie Long-Short opines: Sounds like a lot of Silicon Valley investors took a hard one to the jawbone. The wearables business is deadly competitive.
Mrs. Fan Marino says: Bummer! Their blue tooth headsets were great for an active runner (like me). Fitbit counts steps and calories for the lazy (like Fan Marino). Should have stayed in their lane!