Amazon acquires Ring for over $1 billion, creating foundation for private surveillance network

Amazon announced its acquisition of Ring, a maker of smart doorbell cameras and home security systems, in a deal Reuters reported cost over $1 billion. The acquisition marked one of Amazon’s largest purchases and represented a major expansion into home surveillance infrastructure. Ring, founded in 2013 by Jamie Siminoff as the crowdfunded startup Doorbot, manufactures video doorbells, security cameras, and alarm systems that continuously monitor and record activity around homes.

Strategic Implications

The deal positioned Amazon to integrate Ring’s camera network with its Alexa ecosystem and Amazon Key delivery system, creating an interconnected surveillance infrastructure spanning millions of American homes. Privacy advocates immediately raised concerns about Amazon’s growing surveillance capabilities and the potential for combining Ring’s video feeds with Amazon’s vast data collection apparatus.

Foundation for Police Partnerships

At the time of acquisition, Ring was already developing relationships with law enforcement agencies through its Neighbors app, a community surveillance platform that would later become central to controversial police partnerships. The acquisition provided Amazon with both the technology and market position to build what civil liberties groups would later describe as “the largest corporate-owned, civilian-installed surveillance network that the US has ever seen.”