Alphabet could reportedly fold Nest into Google's hardware division

Stephen Lam/Reuters

Yoky Matsouka, Nest's chief technology officer.

• Hardware company Nest may be folded into Google's hardware division, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
• The company is currently owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet.
• Nest - which makes smart thermostats, home security systems, and doorbell cameras - was acquired by Google in 2014 for $3.2 billion.

Google is considering folding Nest into its hardware division, according to a Thursday report from the Wall Street Journal's Jack Nicas.

Nest currently operates as a standalone company under the Alphabet umbrella, but there's a significant amount of overlap between Nest's business - smart thermostats, home security systems, doorbell cameras, and smoke detectors - and Google's hardware division, which includes the Google Home smart speaker and the Pixel smartphone.

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The Journal reports that at one point, Nest and Google were even working on a similar product that had the same name: Weave.

The thinking is that combining the two businesses would help strengthen Google's hardware presence and better take on Amazon, which currently dominates the smart home realm.

Nest began as a startup founded by Tony Fadell, who helped invent the iPod. Google bought Nest in 2014 for $3.2 billion, then one year later, Alphabet was formed as Google's parent company. Nest became one of the "other bets" under the Alphabet umbrella and remains separate from Google's own hardware division. Nest currently has 1,000 employees, some of whom have already moved over to Google, according to the Journal.

Google declined to comment on the report.

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