Dropbox turned down 9-figure buyout offer from Apple

By on Oct 18, 2011 at 9:40 PM
Business October 18, 2011

The founders of popular file sharing service Dropbox turned down a multimillion dollar acquisition offer from Apple, Forbes reported in a recent article. Several rumors have suggested the offer was as high as $800 million. Reportedly, founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi met with Steve Jobs in Cupertino in 2009. During the meeting, Steve Jobs made an offer to acquire Dropbox, noting that the company was “a feature, not a product,” and that Apple was going to enter the same market, Houston explained. In June, Apple flipped the tables on Dropbox and announced its own file sync service called iCloud, which replaced MobileMe and provides 5GB of free storage and syncs contacts, calendar entries and media across iOS devices. According to Forbes, Dropbox hopes to grow in the future with ongoing deals and it is currently poised to provide software on every HTC smartphone moving forward.

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  • Anonymous

    One word – fools.

  • Paul Thacker

    “A feature not a product”

    One word – arrogant fools

  • Guest

    except iCloud is only for iOS so who gives a shit.

    • Bringit

      Millions and millions and millions of people.

      • Paul Thacker

        More people care about Android, should have make it universal. Oh wait…

      • Anonymous

        iOS is in the hands of more consumers than Android is. 

      • http://twitter.com/5murfette Mr Smurf

        @chorx:disqus LOL! Android beats iOS users 2 to 1 buddy. Go do some research on market share before you tell us your fanboy’ish wet dreams.

    • Payperkut909

      Clorox, your only taking in consideration of the number of iPhones vs. Android handsets. iCloud is available for all products running iOS, that’s what makes the product f&$king awesome. I can sync all my apple stuff anywhere at any time via iCloud.

      • Payperkut909

        Sorry the reply was for mrs. Smurf

      • Anonymous

        That’s cool. Android/WinMo tables and phones?

      • KCRic

        Dropbox is available for EVERYONE. iCloud is only Apple products. 

        Dropbox:1 iCloud:0

  • http://twitter.com/bragzter Bradley Larcher

    this just shows what Apple does. Pay off people for their great ideas, re-brand it and call it theirs. Example Siri, pay off the developers, pull it from the appworld, stick it in the 4s, block the all other iOS devices from accessing their servers as too force customers to shell out more money to make their pockets fatter

    • Bobdonhim

      Pair that with slave labour in developing countries and it is no wonder why Apple makes billions.

      • Anonymous

        Because everyone else builds in first world countries, right?

    • Anonymous

      jackass, the original Siri team now work at Apple, you make it sound like Apple stole the project, no the lead A.I. scientist is now the director of engineering of the iPhone team. Everything Apple buys they incorporate into the family. Google, they buy every startup that threatens them and then shuts them down only a short while later, they did it again this past summer. They purchased two mobile photo sharing startups and released the project only to kill it a month later and restructure the teams.

    • numetheus

      I find it funny you say this while using a computer being run by a Microsoft product. You do know that Microsoft is the worst offender of this right?

    • notnorm

      If they buy it, its theirs so they have every right to re-brand it and call it theirs…e.g you buy an android phone , call it Bradley’s phone and customize it however you want 

    • Anonymous

      Siri (the app) =/= Siri (integrated)

      Seriously, do you people think you’re smart or something for being the “only” one to notice that their was previously an app by the same name?

      Have you used both? I have. It’s like comparing a bottle rocket to a Saturn 5.

    • Anonymous

      It’s called capitalism…how do you think Rockefeller made standard oil so valuable? He bought out all his competitors. Apple is smart by seeing a good idea and trying to adopt it before the competitors.

    • Test

      STFU.  Google buys more companies than anyone.  Listen to yourself.

    • Keymaker

      Lmao, dude you’re a idiot. Thats why they’re called companies. That’s what companies do or do you think they pay people to sit down and come up with ideas.

  • Nathan

    Very interesting! I wonder how Dropbox feels about it now. I would assume Dropbox would increase their free option as well in hopes to attract more and even keep their own customers from leaving who are already on the iOS platform. It makes you think about how many iOS devices are out there and having iCloud pushed (e-mail marketing from Apple) in to new and existing customer faces, it makes you wonder what will happen. I hope both companies continue to innovate their services and features to make the customer win in the end.

  • Anonymous

    They should have sold to apple!

    • http://apple.com Yes_iHave_an_iPhone

      Down vote

  • Ben Fulghum

    Some people are simply smarter than others, and what the hell is Dropbox?

    • sirpaul

      Are you serious? You’ve never heard of dropbox? Almost everyone I know uses it.

      • Anonymous

        Just started using Drop Box. Very cool APP

      • sirpaul

        Extremely handy – use it almost every day. Even have it on my iPhone!

      • Anonymous

        Dropbox is essential to life and small businesses.

        Also, Readdle Docs on the iPhone works better than the Dropbox app for accessing Dropbox and uploading documents.

        I will continue to use both Dropbox and iCloud; it’s too cheap not to.

  • http://www.stereoevolution.com Timehits

    Well that was dumb…they could have used that money to retire and live happy lives.

    • sirpaul

      I think right now they have more than enough money to retire and live happy lives. And tech guys aren’t really into the whole ‘retiring’ gig.

  • Anonymous

    I would’ve turned it down also how you ask someone to buy there company then insult them in a arrogant way. This is why i don’t like apple they do business bad

    • http://apple.com Yes_iHave_an_iPhone

      Stole my pic

      • Anonymous

        Im your pappy boy

  • Anonymous

    MORANS

    • sirpaul

      Morons*

      Moron.

  • sirpaul

    Before you bash and start with the whole “dumbasses should have sold”, try reading the whole artile that is linked after BGR’s snippet.

  • Anonymous

    Once you turn down Apple, and it flips on ya, you should know that your company’s not going to be worth more than that after. Rest assured. 

  • Anonymous

    they turned down a 1 billion dollar offer to be “invented” by apple

  • http://profiles.google.com/daveandcori David Andrade

    I’m happy Dropbox didn’t see to Apple. I don’t use any Apple products. I have Windows PCs (home and work), an Android phone and an HP webOS TouchPad. I also use a CR-48 Chromebook. Drobox works great with all of them and I don’t need to use anything from Apple. 

    I’d rather see companies like Dropbox and Evernote stay independent and therefore work on every platform. 

    • Brandon

      I couldn’t agree any more. I have Dropbox on my iPhone, wifes Android Phone and a laptop and
      a desktop PC. I use that service all the time.

  • J Dub

    Considering Dropbox can be on almost any device anywhere means they have a major advantage. Windows, Mac, Linux, mobile OS’s. Apple wants to get you into their fold. Make you exclusive to them. Push their content eco system on you. They make more money that way.

  • Anonymous

    Was listening to tech news today and they said Apple added 20 million icloud users this pass weekend. These guys should have sold their business

  • Whoster69

    I am really glad they didn’t sell to Apple, then they would have added some really cool enhancements and I would have been forced to do things there way and all the Apple sheep would have claimed that this is better regardless of whether it was or not.

    And I would have had to find a new program.

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