Jawbone to sell pieces of its business, says report

Bloomberg

Jawbone Inc. is set to be a much smaller company, according to reports that it’s ending production of its fitness trackers and seeking buyers for its speaker
business.
The closely held company has put its speaker business up for sale, Fortune said, citing anonymous sources, in a report on its website.
Later, Tech Insider reported that Jawbone has stopped production of its fitness trackers and sold its remaining inventory to a third-party reseller. Tech Insider also attributed its story to unidentified sources familiar with the matter.
A spokeswoman for Beverly Hills, California-based Jawbone declined to comment on the reports, but said the company isn’t selling the fitness-tracking business
outright.
Jawbone and Fitbit Inc., pioneers in activity trackers, have struggled to grow as competition picks up in the wearable-technology market, an industry that tech giants including Apple Inc. and Google have set their sights on. In November, Jawbone cut 60 employees, or 15 percent of its workforce and closed its New York office.
Jawbone started early and was strong in the speaker and fitness-tracker markets, but suffered as it was undercut by cheaper competitors and the products became easily replicated, said Chris Jones, chief analyst at Canalys.
With Jawbone’s speakers, “it became pretty clear that was not really a sustainable market to be in profitably” Jones said.