Google Completes Acquisition of Fitbit for $2.1 billion

More than a year after Google first announcement about the acquisition of Fitbit, the wearable fitness tracker space company, the operation is finally complete.

The deal had been subject to a months-long probe into whether it could further push Google’s market position in the online advertising business using Fitbit data to help personalize ads.

“This deal has always been about devices, not data, and we’ve been clear from the start, that we’d always protect Fitbit users’ privacy,” Google’s Senior Vice President of devices and services Rick Osterloh said in a statement.

Google’s use of the vast amount of user health data has long been the key sticking point of regulatory concern of the deal.

As part of it, in fact, Google agreed to not use any Fitbit data for ads for 10 years — for which the Commission reserved the rights to extend by another 10 years.

The company also said that Fitbit users will always be free to choose to connect to third party services, so they will be able to connect different health and wellness apps to their Fitbit accounts.

Source: google.it

Originally published at https://www.redpublic.com on March 31, 2021.