Amazon’s devices head ditched the Echo in his living room for a smart TV
Since Amazon unveiled its Alexa voice assistant in 2014, the company has worked to embed the technology in as many devices as it can, from microwaves and thermostats to ear buds and wall plugs.
Now Amazon is making TVs a bigger focus of its push to put Alexa everywhere, as it looks to cement its presence in the smart home market. At a hardware event in 2021, the company unveiled its first TV sets, which users can control by voice with Alexa. Amazon followed that launch up on Wednesday, adding three new sizes of its QLED TVs and a cheaper model to its lineup of Fire TVs.
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Dave Limp, Amazon’s hardware chief, told CNBC in an interview that smart TVs are the fastest-growing part of the company’s Fire TV business, which also includes streaming sticks and the Fire TV Cube, a streaming box with Alexa. Amazon said Wednesday it has sold more than 200 million Fire TV devices globally, up from 150 million last January.
But as Amazon puts more emphasis on the TV, the company risks the possibility that consumers will shelve their Echo smart speakers, which were introduced in 2014 and soon became a home sensation. That’s not just a hypothetical. Limp ditched his living room speaker.
“I don’t have an Echo in there anymore, I just use my TV,” Limp said. “So it does serve double duty, it’s just its primary responsibility is first and foremost to be a great television.”
Limp, as you’d expect, rejects the idea that an Alexa-powered Fire TV will cannibalize the company’s Echo devices. Entertainment is still the primary purpose of the TV, and the numerous form factors of the Echo can be used in any room in the house.
For Amazon to make a dent in the hypercompetitive smart TV market, the company needs a selling point that goes beyond TV shows, movies and offering all the streaming services available. Amazon sees an opportunity to transform the TV into what’s essentially an extra-large smart display that’s always on.
The company calls it the Fire TV Ambient Experience. Other companies are doing that, too. For example, Samsung and LG have TVs that display high-quality art or photographs when they’re not in use.
“As you’re going around your house and you have all these dark panels, typically they’re off and they’re big black holes on the wall in your house,” Limp said. “So how can we make better use of them?”
Amazon is doubling down on TVs at a time when CEO Andy Jassy has moved aggressively to cut costs, resulting in the largest layoffs in company history, a corporate hiring freeze and several canceled projects.
A portion of the layoffs, which are expected to total 27,000 employees, landed in Limp’s organization, which oversees the development of products such as Alexa, Echo smart speakers and Kindle e-readers. Just under 2,000 people in Limp’s division were let go as part of the job cuts, he previously told CNBC.
Layoffs in the Alexa division were primarily in and around health-related services and newer projects that were “even higher beta,” Limp said.
“We’re still super committed to the Fire TV and Alexa businesses, and you can see it with the products,” Limp said, referring to Wednesday’s announcement.
Since its launch in 2014, Amazon has made big investments in Alexa and assigned top talent to grow the technology, largely at the direction of founder Jeff Bezos, who saw voice as key to how people would interact with computers in the future. Amazon has about 10,000 people working on Alexa-related projects.
But Bezos’ vision isn’t universally accepted. Bloomberg reported that Amazon executives have expressed concern about fading Alexa user engagement. Some worry that Echo speakers are headed in the direction of other once-trendy consumer devices that eventually lost their value. Rather than being used for shopping lists, ordering groceries and setting schedules, what if Echo owners limit their use to basic functions like alarm clocks, timers and weather updates?
Still, Limp said engagement with Alexa devices continues to increase.
“People do use it for an alarm clock, don’t get me wrong, but they use it for so many broad things,” Limp said. “It’s unbelievable when you look at the utility of what Alexa brings into the home. I think Fire TV just enhances that.”
WATCH: Amazon TV is next step for company to move into internet of things
Armis CEO Yevgeny Dibrov and CTO Nadir Izrael.
Courtesy: Armis
Cybersecurity startup Armis has raised $435 million in a funding round that values the company at $6.1 billion.
“The need for what Armis is doing and what we are building, in this cyber exposure management and security platform, is just increasing,” CEO and co-founder Yevgeny Dibrov told CNBC. There’s “very unique and huge demand right now, and we are continuing to grow.”
Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ growth equity fund anchored the investment, with participation from CapitalG, a venture arm of Alphabet. The security firm brought on Evolution Equity Partners as a new investor.
Armis helps businesses secure and manage internet-connected devices and protect them against cyber threats. The company chose Goldman’s growth fund due to its strong track record helping companies accelerate growth toward initial public offerings, Dibrov said.
“This is the partner for us to go to the next stage and continue to build here a real generational business to get to the Hall of Fame of cyber and SaaS businesses,” he said.
In September, Bloomberg reported that the company was exploring as much as seven stake offers. Dibrov told CNBC the funding round was an outcome of those talks.
Founded in 2016, Armis in August said it surpassed $300 million in annual recurring revenues. The California-based company achieved that milestone less than a year after topping $200 million in ARR.
Armis raised $200 million in an October 2024 funding round with General Catalyst and Alkeon Capital. Previous backers have included Sequioa Capital and Bain Capital Ventures. Armis also raised $100 million in a secondary offering in July.
Dibrov said Armis is aiming for an IPO at the end of 2026 or early 2027, but he said he’s in no rush and is waiting on “market conditions.” The company’s primary goal is to hit $1 billion in annual recurring revenue, he said.
“Going public will be before that,” he said.
WATCH: Tech meets policy: Cybersecurity collaboration necessary in the era AI, says Google engineer
Rick Smith, CEO of Axon Enterprises.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Axon Enterprise‘s stock plummeted 17% after the TASER maker missed Wall Street’s third-quarter profit expectations as it grapples with tariff constraints.
Adjusted earnings totaled $1.17 per share adj., falling short of a $1.52 per share forecast from LSEG. Adjusted gross margins fell 50 basis points from a year ago to 62.7%, which Axon attributed to tariff impacts.
Axon’s connected devices business, which includes its TASER and counter drone equipment, felt the biggest pinch during the first full quarter with tariffs. The business segment accounted for over $405 million in revenues, increasing 24% year over year.
“As long as tariffs stay in place, I view that as sort of a one-time adjustment,” finance chief Brittany Bagley said during the earnings call. “Now that’s baked into the gross margins.”
Bagley expects growth in the company’s software business to eventually offset margin losses long-term. Software and services revenues jumped 41% from a year ago to $305 million.
Total revenues grew 31% from a year ago to $711 million, topping the $704 million expected by analysts polled by LSEG. The U.S. accounted for 84% of sales.
The Arizona-based company reported a net loss of $2.2 million, a loss of 3 cents per share, versus net income of $67 million, or 86 cents per share in the year-ago period.
Axon lifted its full-year revenue outlook to $2.74 billion, from between $2.65 billion and $2.73 billion. FactSet analysts expected $2.72 billion at the midpoint.
The company expects revenues between $750 million and $755 million during the fourth quarter, which was above LSEG analyst expectations of $746 million.
Along with the results, Axon said it is acquiring Carbyne in a deal that values the emergency communications platform at $625 million. The deal is expected to close next year in the first quarter.
Axon shares have jumped more than 60% over the last year and are up 18% year to date as demand for its security tools accelerates.
“We are building an elite business that is still nowhere near its ultimate potential, and we are doing it with a team that is rapidly bought into the mission,” said Axon’s president Josh Isner on the earnings call.
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