Google buys $450M stake in ADT to give Nest a new perch

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Google is paying $450 million for a nearly 7% stake in longtime home and business security provider ADT Inc., a deal that will open new opportunities for one of the internet's most powerful companies to extend the reach of its Nest cameras and voice-activated voice assistant.

As part of the partnership announced Monday, ADT will use Nest's internet-connected cameras, as well as another device called the Nest Home Hub that comes with an internet-connected camera, as part of its customers' security systems.

Both the Nest cameras and Home Hub can be operated through voice commands processed by the Google digital assistant that competes against Amazon's Alexa and Amazon's Siri in a key area of artificial intelligence.

The alliance could serve as a springboard for a home management product line that Google has been developing since shelling out $3.2 billion in 2014 to buy Nest, a startup launched by Tony Fadell, who played an instrumental role in creating the iPhone while he was at Apple. ADT, whose roots date back to 1874 when it was formed as American District Telegraph, has about 6.5 million customers.

“Together, we aim to create the next generation of the helpful home — based on new security solutions that will better protect and connect people to their homes and families," Rishi Chandra, Nest's general manager, wrote in a blog post.

Nest initially focused on sleek thermostats controlled through the internet but has been making inroads in home security cameras in recent years. This despite recurring concerns about whether its devices can be trusted to preserve privacy because Google makes most of its money learning about people's interests through its ubiquitous search engine and then selling ads based on that knowledge.

Google has steadfastly promised to keep its Nest devices separate...