EU Reporter
Published 3 months ago
The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Fitbit by Google. The approval is conditional on full compliance with concessions offered by Google to the European Commission.
Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, with responsibility for competition policy, said: “We can approve the proposed acquisition of Fitbit by Google because the commitments will ensure that the market for wearables and the nascent digital health space will remain open and competitive. The commitments will determine how Google can use the data collected for ad purposes, how interoperability between competing wearables and Android will be safeguarded and how users can continue to share health and fitness data, if they choose to.”
Europe clears Google-Fitbit with a ten-year ban on using health data for ads
Europe has greenlit Google’s $2.1BN acquisition of fitness wearable maker Fitbit, applying a number of conditions intended to shrink competition concerns over letting it gobble a major cache of health and wellness data following months of regulatory scrutiny of the deal.
While Google announced its plan to buy Fitbit over a year ago, it only notified the transaction to the Commission on June 15, 2020 meaning it’s taken half a year to be given a caveated go-ahead by Europe. It is also now facing formal antitrust charges on its home turf from more than one angle (though not related to Fitbit).
The EU Commission Approves Google s Acquisition of Fitbit though Subject to Strict Conditions
In November 2019 Patently Apple posted a report titled Google s Parent Company Announces Acquisition of Fitbit. The acquisition was announced after the company had a big Q3 2019 earnings miss. The $2.1 billion price tag bought Google a dedicated team to advance their Pixel Watch plans which have been rumored for years. With Fitbit and Alphabet s finances, they may be able to put together a product line that might be able to challenge Apple Watch down the road.
Today, Google finally won European Union approval for its US$2.1 billion takeover of health tracker Fitbit Inc., days after regulators proposed tougher rules to curb powerful technology firms’ push into new services.