Google Was the Only Serious Bidder ⇥ recode.net

Liz Gannes, Recode:

Nest had been close to completing a funding round of upward of $150 million that would have valued it at more than $2 billion, Re/code reported earlier this month. That round never closed, because Google swept in with its huge offer. Sources familiar with details of the acquisition said that Google was the only serious bidder and Apple was not in the mix.

At first glance, it’s a bit of an oddball buy. I’m not surprised that Google bought a hardware company: Google has significantly increased their investment in hardware over the past couple of years. I am a little surprised that it ended up being a tech company that purchased Nest, and not a company like Honeywell or GE.