Tech Mails

Ring update

Dave Limp to Jeff Bezos, December 15, 2017

Congress
From
Dave Limp
Sent
Friday, December 15, 2017 7:28 AM
To
Jeff Bezos
Cc
Peter Krawiec, Nick Komorous, Jeff Helbling, Douglas Booms
Subject
Ring update
Jeff, I want to provide you with an update on Ring. Corp Dev and our legal team have been in regular contact with Ring over the past few weeks and just learned that Ring has resolved its lawsuit with ADT. The two companies have reached a binding settlement that gives Ring the perpetual rights to use the Zonoff Z1 Platform, which means that Ring can use the Zonoff team to continue working on the Protect alarm system. [redacted] We also have an update on Ring's financial performance. For the months of September and October, the company [redacted] Ring ended October with [redacted] paying subscribers, [redacted] households, [redacted] total users and [redacted] active devices. Ring has yet to close its books for November, but estimates that revenue will come in [redacted] above plan ([redacted]) but that EBITDA will be below budget. The company's topline outperformance and bottom line underperformance is largely attributable to increased marketing and QVC promotions, which is a lower margin channel. Since we last discussed with you, Ring has been moving forward with its Series E round and now plans to raise a total of [redacted] in new capital at a pre-money valuation of [redacted]. The company is going to close the first [redacted] of the round tomorrow, with the remaining [redacted] closing sometime in the next few weeks. All of the Series E shares would be entitled to a [redacted] return if there is an acquisition within 18 months, thereby making an acquisition more expensive for non-Series E investors during that timeframe. In light of these recent developments we are considering a few options including: 1) Move swiftly to put in an acquisition offer before the second Series E closing, 2) Participate in the Series E round as a way to stay close, 3) Do nothing and keep a close eye on them over the next year. I am going to try to pull my team together early next week to form a more definitive recommendation as some of the folks don't have conviction yet. Let me know if you would like to be in the room for any of that debate? Dave-
JBX-000009

About this email

Limp updated Bezos on Ring, the home-security camera maker Amazon was considering acquiring, and laid out three options: bid before Ring's second Series E closing, invest in the round, or wait.

The whole thread

  1. Dec 15, 2017 Jeff Bezos To be clear, my view here is that we're buying market position – not technology. And that market position and…
  2. Dec 15, 2017 Jeff Bezos Maybe we should do the whole [redacted] of the first series E (the one that closes tomorrow) so we don't make…
  3. Dec 15, 2017 Jeff Bezos We could immediately offer improved terms on tomorrow's hundred million. For example, only a [redacted] times…
  4. Dec 15, 2017 Dave Limp Jeff, I want to provide you with an update on Ring. Corp Dev and our legal team have been in regular contact…
  5. Dec 15, 2017 Jeff Bezos I'd buy it right now.