Google Just Closed the $2.1 Billion Fitbit Acquisition
Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) subsidiary Google just closed the $2.1 billion buyout of wearable devices specialist Fitbit. The online services giant said that the deal will support Google's commitment to health and fitness while giving Fitbit's hardware access to Google's cloud-computing and artificial-intelligence tools.
The Fitbit buyout started going through the regulatory approval process way back in November 2019. The deal faced many challenges along the way from regulatory bodies in Europe, America, and Asia. Some consumers worry about Google using personal data from Fitbit's 29 million registered users and 120 million devices to support completely unrelated business projects such as personalized advertising.
The U.S. Justice Department will continue to investigate the buyout even after the official closing, according to Reuters. The deal is also still waiting for an OK from Australian government bodies. Google went ahead and announced the closing anyhow because the standard waiting periods for each of the pending reviews have expired.
Source Fool.com
