The acquisition of Fitbit was announced in 2019 and today Google makes it official.
The process had not been completed due to the doubts that the purchase generated and the advantage that Google could have by collecting data from the users of smartwatches for advertising purposes.
Google finalizes the acquisition of Fitbit for $2.1B
Google assured that it is interested in having more presence in wearables on different occasions. Even though, it can still be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice and be canceled if it is considered that the union of these firms would represent one more reason to worry about the data monopoly that the company has and uses through its multiple businesses.
“We worked with global regulators on an approach which safeguards consumers’ privacy expectations, including a series of binding commitments that confirm Fitbit users’ health and wellness data won’t be used for Google ads and this data will be separated from other Google ads data,” said Rick Osterloh, senior vice president of devices at the company. As a result, Fitbit users will have notifications to synchronize and give permissions.
The commercial agreement is closed between the two companies for about $2.1 billion; however, this may not be the final step if regulators decide that this will harm users and their privacy. For now, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced that they are investigating the trade deal.