Owner Death in Segway Accident
Jimi Heselden, the owner of Segway Inc., died in a Segway accident on December 26, 2010, after falling off a cliff while riding one of the devices near his estate in West Yorkshire, England. The incident was ruled an accidental death, and the coroner confirmed that Heselden, aged 62, was the sole owner of the company at the time of the crash. Heselden had acquired Segway in December 2009 for approximately $54 million, becoming the sole owner after earlier investors and the original inventor, Dean Kamen, had reduced their stakes. The accident drew immediate attention to the personal risks associated with the device and raised questions about safety protocols for high-profile users of the Segway PT, a self-balancing electric transporter that had been marketed for tourism, law enforcement, and personal mobility since 2001. The company's leadership structure changed rapidly after the death, with the board of directors appointing a new CEO to manage operations while the ownership stake remained within the Heselden family trust.
Following the accident, Segway Inc. continued to operate under the ownership structure controlled by the Heselden estate, with the company maintaining its headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire, and continuing to develop new models of the Segway PT and later the Segway miniPRO. The incident was covered by major outlets including Forbes, which reported on the financial implications for the company and the broader personal transporter market, noting that the device had been adopted by police departments, tour operators, and security firms worldwide read more. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission also tracked injury data related to Segway devices, publishing reports on the number of emergency room visits and reported accidents involving the self-balancing scooter in the years following the owner's death.
Segway Company Ownership and Financial History
Segway Inc. was founded in 1999 by Dean Kamen and initially backed by investors including John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and the British venture capital firm BAe Systems. The company struggled financially for years, never achieving mass consumer adoption despite high-profile demonstrations and media coverage. In 2005, the company was sold to a group of investors led by Jimi Heselden, who later became the sole owner after acquiring the remaining shares in 2009. Under Heselden's ownership, the company focused on the commercial and government markets, selling Segway PT units to police departments, security firms, and tourism operators in cities including London, Paris, and Las Vegas. The financial performance of the company remained modest compared to larger consumer electronics firms, with annual revenues estimated in the low hundreds of millions of dollars before the owner's death in 2010.
In 2015, the Chinese company Ninebot, backed by Xiaomi, acquired Segway Inc. from the Heselden family, merging it with its own scooter business and creating the Ninebot by Segway brand. The acquisition brought new investment and expanded the product line to include electric scooters, unicycles, and the Segway miniPRO, which became popular for personal commuting and recreational use. The combined company now competes with other electric micromobility manufacturers globally and has been featured in reports by Bloomberg and TechCrunch as a key player in the urban mobility market read more. The financial structure of the post-acquisition entity includes operations in multiple countries and a growing focus on sustainable urban transportation solutions.