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Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

therobotreport.com

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Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#11

This just demonstrates the "price gap" between virtual and "real world" companies. An app with a few thousand uses with worth more than one of the world's best engineering companies. Even if either has a path to profitability.

Agreed.

Robots are very hard, and Boston Dynamics has been around for almost 40 years and still isn't anywhere close to making a lot of money.

Apps have added a lot more value to my life than BD ever has.

Fwiw I interviewed with BD a few years ago, and am focusing on robotics, so I'd like the opposite to be true

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#12

This just demonstrates the "price gap" between virtual and "real world" companies. An app with a few thousand uses with worth more than one of the world's best engineering companies. Even if either has a path to profitability.

a) Boston Dynamics might be a cool company, but they don't seem to have a widely used product on the market (and they were founded 28 years ago).

b) Is there a specific app with just a few thousand users that sold for more than $1B?

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#13

This just demonstrates the "price gap" between virtual and "real world" companies. An app with a few thousand uses with worth more than one of the world's best engineering companies. Even if either has a path to profitability.

We spend way more in software (also online services) than in hardware.

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#15

This just demonstrates the "price gap" between virtual and "real world" companies. An app with a few thousand uses with worth more than one of the world's best engineering companies. Even if either has a path to profitability.

Without detailed understanding of BD's assets and liabilities, it is difficult to assess a single deal.

If BD lives up to its perennial hype/technical-success and is not encumbered with significant liabilities, Hyundai may have gotten quite a deal.

Re: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

#17

This just demonstrates the "price gap" between virtual and "real world" companies. An app with a few thousand uses with worth more than one of the world's best engineering companies. Even if either has a path to profitability.

I was going to cite concrete numbers for BD’s previous acquisitions — since I was certain I’d heard those figures being higher — but Wikipedia just gives the Google and SoftBank purchases as being undisclosed sums:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Dynamics#Company_histor...

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