Fitbit Announces Departure of Chief Financial Officer Bill Zerella
June 06 2018 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Company Promotes Chief Accounting Officer Ron
Kisling to CFO, Reaffirms Q2 and FY 2018 Revenue and Earnings
Guidance
Fitbit, Inc. (NYSE: FIT), the leading global wearables brand,
today announced that chief financial officer William R. Zerella
will depart the company, effective June 15. The company has
promoted Ronald W. Kisling, currently serving as chief accounting
officer, to the role of CFO, leveraging his nearly four years with
Fitbit to ensure continuity of operations.
Zerella served as Fitbit’s CFO since June 2014. During his
tenure, he guided the company to one of the largest consumer
electronics IPOs in history and scaled the company globally. Today,
Fitbit has sold over 78 million devices and has a growing, active
community of users of over 25 million, is in 86 countries and has a
retail footprint across 47,000 stores. Zerella is leaving Fitbit to
become CFO of an autonomous vehicle technology startup, leveraging
his experience in growing businesses.
“Over the past four years, Bill’s passion and dedication to
growing early stage companies were key enablers of Fitbit’s
transformation from a startup to the leading global brand it is
today. We thank him for his countless contributions, including
leading our successful IPO in 2015, guiding our worldwide
expansion, and laying the foundation for our future success, and
wish him all the best in his next endeavor,” said James Park, CEO
and co-founder of Fitbit.
As CFO, Kisling will lead Fitbit’s global finance organization,
reporting to CEO James Park. He brings nearly 35 years of financial
leadership experience to the role, having served as the CFO of
multiple public and private technology companies. Prior to Fitbit,
Kisling was CFO of Nanometrics, a publicly traded semiconductor
equipment company. He also held senior executive roles at PGP
Corporation, Saba Software, and SPL Worldgroup. He joined Fitbit
nearly four years ago as CAO, overseeing accounting, real estate
& workplace and IT functions.
“Ron has long been an important member of our senior leadership
team and we will continue to benefit from his significant expertise
in leading sophisticated finance organizations as we position
Fitbit for its next stage of growth,” said Park. “We remain
confident in the long-term future of Fitbit and look forward to
partnering with Ron as we execute on our plan.”
The company continues to execute on its transformation strategy
and is making strides adapting to the changing wearable device
market. Fitbit has experienced strong consumer demand for its
new smartwatch, Fitbit Versa™, and the company announced earlier
this week that sell through in the first six weeks of availability
in North America was the best of any Fitbit device in the history
of the company. Fitbit has increased confidence in its outlook
that smartwatch revenue will be more than 50% of sales in the
second half of 2018; therefore, we are reaffirming revenue and
earnings guidance for Q2 and fiscal year 2018.
About Fitbit, Inc. (NYSE: FIT)
Fitbit helps people lead healthier, more active lives by
empowering them with data, inspiration and guidance to reach their
goals. As the leading global wearables brand, Fitbit designs
products and experiences that track and provide motivation for
everyday health and fitness. Fitbit’s diverse line of innovative
and popular products include Fitbit Blaze®, Fitbit Charge 2®,
Fitbit Alta HR™, Fitbit Alta®, Fitbit Ace™, Fitbit Flex 2®, and
Fitbit Zip® activity trackers, as well as the Fitbit Ionic™ and
Fitbit Versa™ smartwatches, Fitbit Flyer™ wireless headphones and
Fitbit Aria 2™ Wi-Fi Smart Scale. Fitbit products are carried in
over 47,000 retail stores and in 86 countries around the globe.
Powered by one of the world’s largest social fitness networks and
databases of health and fitness data, the Fitbit platform delivers
personalized experiences, insights and guidance through leading
software and interactive tools, including the Fitbit and Fitbit
Coach apps, and the Fitbit OS for smartwatches. Fitbit Health
Solutions develops health and wellness solutions designed to help
increase engagement, improve health outcomes, and drive a positive
return for employers, health plans and health systems. Fitbit and
the Fitbit logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fitbit,
Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Additional Fitbit trademarks
can be found at www.fitbit.com/legal/trademark-list. Third-party
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and share your
Fitbit experience.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that involve risks and uncertainties
including, among other things, statements regarding continued
demand for Fitbit Versa; our financial outlook for the second
quarter of 2018 and full year 2018; and trends in smartwatch
revenue. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and
may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of
factors, including the effects of the highly competitive market in
which we operate, including competition from much larger technology
companies; any inability to successfully develop and introduce new
products, features, and services or enhance existing products and
services; product liability issues, security breaches or other
defects; and other factors discussed under the heading "Risk
Factors" in our most recent report on Form 10-Q filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements
contained herein are based on information available to us as of the
date hereof and we do not assume any obligation to update these
statements as a result of new information or future events.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180606005439/en/
Fitbit, Inc.Jen Ralls, 415-941-0037PR@fitbit.com
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