02-26-2019, 02:43 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-26-2019, 02:44 PM by robdrimmie.)
Rampant speculation follows.
It may be the case that owning the manufacturing process outright was the wrong choice. Perhaps after a few months of reality it was determined that there are better/cheaper/faster ways to build the products elsewhere, or they were able to use their own facility as a lever to get better deals with manufacturers elsewhere. The price drop may or may not be relevant here.
Alternatively, there's a lot of valuable intellectual property and deeply skilled people (not just tech - sales, marketing, fashion, retail, lots of other roles outside of manufacturing) that would be attractive to acquirers, and Amazon's Alexa fund might not explicitly be about acquisition but it has to be at least a real consideration when funding companies. Owning manufacturing (especially the labor burden) may have been a block.
Extremely unlikely: During the HQ2 process Amazon was convinced enough by the Toronto bid of the value of an office in this area, and North being a close partner via the Alexa fund made it easy. The existence of a new/expanded Toronto office demonstrates the appeal of the area, but is more likely to be a vote against a Waterloo office.
It may be the case that owning the manufacturing process outright was the wrong choice. Perhaps after a few months of reality it was determined that there are better/cheaper/faster ways to build the products elsewhere, or they were able to use their own facility as a lever to get better deals with manufacturers elsewhere. The price drop may or may not be relevant here.
Alternatively, there's a lot of valuable intellectual property and deeply skilled people (not just tech - sales, marketing, fashion, retail, lots of other roles outside of manufacturing) that would be attractive to acquirers, and Amazon's Alexa fund might not explicitly be about acquisition but it has to be at least a real consideration when funding companies. Owning manufacturing (especially the labor burden) may have been a block.
Extremely unlikely: During the HQ2 process Amazon was convinced enough by the Toronto bid of the value of an office in this area, and North being a close partner via the Alexa fund made it easy. The existence of a new/expanded Toronto office demonstrates the appeal of the area, but is more likely to be a vote against a Waterloo office.