Nokia has revealed plans to sell its digital health business back to the co-founder of Withings, the French health tracking company Nokia bought in 2016.

Finland-based Nokia originally acquired Withings for $192 million in an effort to re-establish a presence in the consumer electronics market, rebranding Withings' iOS-compatible smart connected home products as well as a range of health and fitness wearables.

withings nokia
However, it looks as if the acquisition simply didn't pay off for the erstwhile mobile phone powerhouse. In 2017, the digital health division earned just $62.4 million in revenue, but the rest of the company posted sales of $27.9 billion. Now Nokia is handing back the business to Withings' co-founder, Éric Carreel. The sale will likely be at a significant loss, although the Nokia press release didn't mention figures:

Nokia announced a review of strategic options for the Digital Health business in February 2018. The planned sale is part of Nokia's honed focus on becoming a business-to-business and licensing company. The transaction is subject to terms agreed in the negotiations and completion of the information consultation with the Works Council of Nokia Technologies (France) SA., with the deal expected to close in late Q2 2018.

The announcement follows recent reports of layoffs from the company, as well as a leaked memo that revealed the digital health division was in a bad way with little prospect of turning things around. Then in October, Nokia announced a $164 million write-down of the division's assets. Google and Samsung were reportedly looking into taking the ailing health business off Nokia's hands, but today's announcement suggests nothing substantial came of the negotiations.

Top Rated Comments

maflynn Avatar
71 months ago
Looks like Nokia is still trying to figure out what they want to do as a business.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brucewayne Avatar
71 months ago
We bought the Thermo, BP Cuff and Smart scale before Nokia took over and they have worked almost flawlessly for years. The only problem we had was with their watch and Nokia support was useless for that.

Glad to see Withings take it back over
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LV426 Avatar
71 months ago
Good. Now make your products so that they don’t require an ‘account’ to function, process highly personal medical information, and send the results in plain text email, like writing your medical history on a postcard.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GadgetBen Avatar
71 months ago
Nokia are an absolute joke, we have the body scale and Nokia removed some of the key features of the scale and completely ruined the old Withings app when they took it over.

Nokia have no idea what they should be doing anymore.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
spazzcat Avatar
71 months ago
Good! Nokia has not don't a single good thing with Withings. The new app is a mess, and they broke old hardware for months at a time.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
honglong1976 Avatar
71 months ago
That's great news. Back to the Withings brand. How frustrating for those who upgraded their Withings to Nokia branded goods only for them to revert back to Withings again.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

BMW Logo iPhone 15 Pro

Warning: BMW Wireless Charging May Break iPhone 15's Apple Pay Chip

Sunday October 1, 2023 6:14 am PDT by
If you have an iPhone 15 and drive a BMW, it might be best to avoid charging the device with the vehicle's wireless charging pad for now. Over the past week, some BMW owners have complained that their iPhone 15's NFC chip no longer works after charging the device with their vehicle's wireless charging pad, according to comments shared on the MacRumors Forums and X, formerly known as Twitter. ...
Multi Display CarPlay 1

All-New Apple CarPlay Launching Later This Year With These 5 New Features

Friday September 29, 2023 11:29 am PDT by
At WWDC 2022 last year, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, personalization options, and more. Apple said the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience would be announced in late 2023, but it has still not shared any additional...
Apple Watch Edition Gold 2015

Original Apple Watch is Now Obsolete, Including $17,000 Gold Model

Monday October 2, 2023 9:15 am PDT by
All first-generation Apple Watch models released in 2015 were added to Apple's obsolete products list on September 30, according to an internal memo obtained by MacRumors. As a result, these outdated "Series 0" watches are no longer eligible for repairs or other service at Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Provider locations. The list of obsolete models includes the first-generation...
iPhone 15 Pro lineup

Apple to Address iPhone 15 Pro Overheating Issue With iOS 17 Update

Saturday September 30, 2023 9:28 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an iOS 17 update to address a bug that may contribute to the reported iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max overheating issue, according to a statement the company shared today with MacRumors and Forbes reporter David Phelan. Apple also says some recent updates to third-party apps have overloaded the system and contributed to the overheating issue. The report notes that...
Apple Logo Spotlight

Mac Trade-In Changes May Indicate New Model to Launch This Month

Tuesday October 3, 2023 6:30 am PDT by
Apple may be proceeding with plans to release a new Mac model this month, according to potentially related information obtained by MacRumors. Details pertaining to imminent changes to Mac trade-ins provided to MacRumors by a verified source suggest that Apple will likely begin accepting new models for trade-in this month. Similar changes in June coincided with WWDC, when Apple began accepting...
iphone se 4 modified flag edges

iPhone SE 4 Details: Action Button, USB-C Port, Face ID, and More

Wednesday September 27, 2023 1:34 pm PDT by
Significant changes are expected to arrive with Apple's fourth-generation iPhone SE, in terms of both design and hardware, MacRumors has learned. The iPhone SE 4, known internally under the codename Ghost, is expected to receive a new design derived almost entirely from the base model iPhone 14. According to our sources, the iPhone SE 4 will use a modified version of the iPhone 14 chassis...