Fitbit files for US IPO

Fitbit plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

Fitbit Inc, a maker of fitness-tracking wristbands, filed for an initial public offering in New York.

The company disclosed a prospectus on Thursday with a $100 million placeholder, an amount used to calculate fees that will likely change. In December, a person with knowledge of the matter said Fitbit could raise about $150 million in an IPO.

Fitbit plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. It is working with Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of America on the IPO.

A Fitbit IPO would be among the first for the wearable-technology market, and comes after Apple rolled out its Apple Watch - which has health-tracking capabilities. Fitbit identifies the Apple Watch as a competitor in its prospectus.

The company's sales surged in 2014 to $745.4 million from $271 million in 2013. It sold 10.9 million devices last year and was profitable, with earnings of $132 million, the filing shows. Fitbit plans to use proceeds from the offering for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

The number of fitness trackers is projected to more than triple to more than 70 million devices by 2018, according to a report last year from Juniper Research.

Fitbit also faces competition from Microsoft's activity-tracking wristband called Band, and Jawbone.

- Bloomberg