Essential Products reportedly considering sale of company

Image source: Essential

The Essential phone, which launched last year to much fanfare, could be the last phone from the company as the startup is reportedly considering a sale of the company.

Essential Products, a startup co-founded by Android creator Andy Rubin, has hired Credit Suisse Group AG to advise on a potential sale. Sources told Bloomberg that at least one suitor is interested in buying the startup.

The ongoing discussions are said to be focused on a sale of the entire company, which will include its patents, hardware products and engineering talent. The development of a second smartphone has been canceled with resources and engineers diverted to another upcoming product - a smart home device. Rubin responded to the report with this tweet:

“We always have multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits. We are putting all of our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products.”

There has not been a decision made and Essential could resume its phone business. It is rumored to have explored hiring a manufacturer such as Foxconn to develop phones under the Essential brand.

To date, Essential has raised about US$300 million from several investors such as Amazon, Tencent Holdings and Foxconn. It was valued around US$900 million to US$1 billion last year by Equidate. Essential also spent over US$100 million on product development.

Source: Bloomberg