Google buys Fitbit for $2.1B

Wise

Electoral Member
Mar 3, 2019
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The deal is pending regulatory approval.


Fitbit shares gained more than 40% since it was first reported that Alphabet made an offer for the fitness tracker.

Alphabet Inc. is a multinational conglomerate. It was created through a corporate restructuring of Google. It became the parent company of Google.


Fitbit is being acquired by Google's parent company for about $2.1 billion US. This deal allows the internet company to step back into the competitive market for smartwatches and health and fitness trackers.


Google did not have much presence in the wearables market. This deal could give more opportunity to compete with the Apple Watch.


Fitbit has 28 million active users worldwide and has sold more than 100 million devices.


https://www.igorbnews.com/2019/11/google-buys-fitbit-for-21b.html
 

Wise

Electoral Member
Mar 3, 2019
273
22
18
Google’s plan to buy Fitbit had problems. The company was already being investigated by Congress, state attorneys general, and federal antitrust regulators, a reflection of growing alarm over a conglomerate whose dominant market share is built on unrivaled access to personal data. Now it was announcing a $2.2 billion acquisition of a firm with troves of the most intimate details of its users’ physical health, from their heart rate to their exercise routines to how many hours they sleep at night. Fitbit was apparently worried enough about the threat of the deal being blocked that it negotiated a $250 million breakup fee in case of “a failure to obtain Antitrust Approvals.”

https://www.wired.com/story/google-fitbit-project-nightingale-antitrust/