NEW YORK – Google announced plans yesterday to acquire Fitbit, the world’s leading maker of wearable fitness activity trackers.
The deal, worth about $2.1 billion, is one of Google’s largest acquisitions. The wearable market is growing quickly.
Although Google makes some hardware, including Pixel phones and Nest devices, it hasn’t made much headway into smartwatches and other wearable devices.
“With Google’s resources and global platform, Fitbit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables category, scale faster, and make health even more accessible to everyone,” said Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park.
In a press release, Fitbit emphasised its commitment to data privacy, saying it would remain transparent about the data it collects and why.
The wearable fitness tracker company also said it never sells personal information and that its health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads.
The acquisition deal is expected to be finalised in 2020. (CNN)
