Google might merge back with Nest to make more smart home products

Google is considering bringing Nest back into its family after the two became separate brands in 2015 under holding company Alphabet, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. Nest could potentially rejoin Google’s hardware team and the two could make more smart home products that rival Amazon’s lineup of Alexa devices.

The two are already pretty integrated — Google Home users can control Nest thermostats and pull up Nest Cam streams through voice command, the result of a few dozen Nest developers being brought on the Google team last year. Now these rumored talks could indicate a deeper partnership in the future that would bring all of Nest’s 1,000 employees onto Google’s team.

Google initially bought Nest in 2014 for $3.2 billion, but the two went their separate ways a year later as Alphabet split up some of its units as individual brands. Both experienced some overlap, however, as marketing teams on both brands had to call the same retailers to stock their goods, a former Nest manager told the WSJ.

Google declined to comment.