Withings (Nokia Acquisition Crisis)
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Withings was a French connected-health hardware company founded in June 2008 by Eric Carreel, Cedric Hutchings and Fred Potter, making smart scales, digital health devices and fitness-tracker watches. In April 2016, Nokia acquired it for 170 million euros ($192 million) in cash. Nokia killed the Withings brand in 2017, rebranding the products as Nokia Digital Health - a move that became a corporate cautionary tale when Nokia wrote off almost the entire acquisition value and sold the business back to Carreel in 2018.
02 / Withings (Nokia Acquisition Crisis) FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Nokia's digital-health bet failed: the rebranded products never scaled to Nokia's growth expectations - the unit made just $20 million in revenue in Q1 2018 against $5.9 billion in group sales. In October 2017, Nokia took a 141 million euro write-down on the goodwill from the Withings acquisition, effectively admitting the purchase had destroyed most of its value. In February 2018, Nokia's chief strategy officer told employees the digital health business had 'struggled to scale and meet its growth expectations' and had no path to become meaningful inside Nokia. Nokia shifted focus to B2B licensing and sold the business back to Withings co-founder Eric Carreel in May 2018 (closed late Q2 2018); the Withings brand returned that September.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Withings is founded in France by Eric Carreel, Cedric Hutchings and Fred Potter, making connected-health devices.
- Acquired by Nokia
In April 2016, Nokia acquires Withings for 170 million euros in cash.
- Write-down
Nokia kills the Withings brand in 2017; in October 2017 it takes a 141 million euro write-down on the Withings goodwill.
- Sold back
In May 2018, Nokia sells the digital health business back to co-founder Eric Carreel (deal closes late Q2 2018); the Withings brand returns in September 2018.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In 2016, Nokia acquired French connected-health hardware company Withings for 170 million euros in cash.
- 02
In 2017, Nokia killed the Withings brand, and in October 2017 took a 141 million euro write-down on the Withings goodwill.
- 03
In February 2018, Nokia said its digital health business had 'struggled to scale and meet its growth expectations' and launched a strategic review.
- 04
In May 2018, Nokia sold the digital health business back to Withings co-founder Eric Carreel; the Withings brand returned in September 2018.