Amazon is back at it again with the corporate acquisitions. Fresh off of their purchase of Whole Foods Market, and in the middle of plans to build a second headquarters, they then set their sights on smart-home company Ring, known for their doorbells and various other smart security options. After agreeing to purchase Ring for a cool $1 billion (making this one of the biggest purchases in the company's history), the deal was officially settled on April 12. Now, just like the price cuts in staples like avocados, eggs, and milk that came with the acquisition of Whole Foods, Amazon has begun to cut the prices of Ring products.

What is Ring?

Ring is truly the definition of a corporate success story. The home security company was rejected on Shark Tank under the name "Doorbot" after requesting a $700,000 investment for a 10 percent stake by every investor except Kevin O'Leary, who's counteroffer was turned down. CEO Jamie Siminoff was not discouraged by this and continued to innovate in the smart home security sector through products like the Ring Video Doorbell, which allows you to view the person at your door through an app on your smartphone.

This quickly popularized the company, who continued to make waves with more cloud-connected products like smart security cameras and floodlights. All of these devices are connected and saved in the cloud, which means that you can view a live feed of all your connected devices 24/7.

While all you need for this is the device(s) itself and the phone app, customers can choose to pay an additional subscription fee and have all their videos not only stream live but saved to the cloud. This can be beneficial if something happens while you're not watching the live feed, and have to review the footage.

Amazon's acquisition

Amazon has been slowly making moves in the smart security sector, and this is another big step. They initially showed interest in Ring after investing in it through it's "Alexa Fund", which provides capital to tech startups that provide integration with Amazon's Alexa. Later, in February 2018, Amazon agreed to acquire Ring.

Ownership was officially transferred to Amazon on April 12, and price cuts began almost immediately. The staple product in Ring's lineup, the Ring Video Doorbell, originally sold for a retail price of $180. However, the price was cut on both Amazon.com and Ring's own online store to just $100, and other online retailers quickly followed suit.

While you might think that the Shark Tank investors are kicking themselves for passing up on such a lucrative opportunity, they have actually maintained their positions throughout this process. "I would pass on Doorbot again if given the chance," Mark Cuban states on LinkedIn.
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