Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission.Learn more.
Surprise! Essential just acquired… CloudMagic, maker of the Newton email app?
August 12, 2025
Companies buy other companies all the time. Some of those acquisitions make huge headlines (thinkAT&T buying Time Warner) while others fly under the radar. However, most acquisitions make sense as soon as you hear about them.
That might not be the case with today’s major acquisition, viaTechCrunch: Andy Rubin’sEssentialacquired CloudMagic, maker of the former email appNewton.
Under normal circumstances, a smartphone company buying a company focused on cloud integration wouldn’t be all too surprising. However, Essential has made major headlines over the past few months for all the wrong reasons, with talks ofRubin selling the company, thenlaying off a third of its staff, and then getting caught up ina huge sexual harassment scandalwhich resulted inthousands of Google employees walking off the job.
Meanwhile, CloudMagicshuttered its popular Newton email app earlier this year, after years of bad decisions and mismanagement. Now, its website looks like it was made inMS-DOS.
What would a smartphone company in a tailspin want with a company whose only real product was a just-shuttered email app?
An Essential spokesperson gave this cryptic and open-ended statement toTechCrunch: “We are always on the lookout for companies with great technology and talent to help accelerate our product roadmap.”
Sure. OK. Take that as you will.
What do you think? What is this acquisition all about? Let us know your theories in the comments.
NEXT:The Essential Phone Audio Adapter HD is here (a year too late)
Thank you for being part of our community. Read ourComment Policybefore posting.
