Google completes $2.1 bln acquisition of Fitbit

cde.news desk 14 January 2021, 19:00 · 1 min read

An employee presents Fitbit smartwatch at the Huawei stand at the International Consumer Electronics Fair (IFA) in Berlin, Germany, 03 September 2020. The IFA. the world's leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances. runs from 03 to 06 September 2020. EPA-EFE/FILIP SINGER

Jan 14 (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google has completed its $2.1 billion acquisition of wearable device maker Fitbit Inc, the companies said on Thursday.

The deal had triggered concerns over Google’s market power and the use of people’s health data in targeted advertising.

The companies won antitrust approval from the European Union in December after Google agreed to restrictions on how it will use customers’ health related data.

“This deal has always been about devices, not data, and we’ve been clear since the beginning that we will protect Fitbit users’ privacy,” Google said in a blog post on Thursday.

Fitbit, once the leader in the wearable devices market, has lost market share to Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung and Huawei in recent years.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

Filed under Corporate Dispatch

Topics Acquisition fitbit Google

Google completes $2.1 bln acquisition of Fitbit

More from Corporate Dispatch

Women anchoring progress in the maritime sector

Trustworthy and Responsible AI Network expands to help European healthcare organizations improve AI quality, safety, and trustworthiness in health

Microsoft president says few AI deepfakes identified in EU elections