New Nest CEO reportedly says company is not for sale
After speculation regarding Nest's future with Alphabet, the company's new leader reportedly tries to squash rumors of a sale.
Nest's new CEO says the company is not for sale.
Since Nest co-founder Tony Fadell said last week that he's leaving the smart-home device company, there's been speculation about the company's future. One question was whether Alphabet, the parent company of both Nest and Google, was putting Nest up for sale.
Not so, according to a report Wednesday by The Verge. "Nest is not for sale, and scaling and innovation aren't mutually exclusive," new CEO Marwan Fawaz reportedly wrote in a memo to employees.
A source close to Nest, which makes a web-connected thermostat, smoke detector and security camera, also reiterated that the company is not for sale.
Speculation began to swirl about Fawaz's role with Nest because of his past work with Google. He was previously an executive with Motorola Mobility, which Google bought in 2012 for $12.5 billion, before selling it off to Lenovo for $3 billion two years later. While with Google, Fawaz was a key part of selling off the Motorola Home division.
The change in leadership comes at a rocky time for Nest, two years after Google bought the smart-home company for $3.2 billion. Fadell said he would remain an advisor to Alphabet and its CEO, Larry Page, but he hasn't been specific about his exact plans beyond that.