Google has concluded its acquisition of fitness device manufacturer Fitbit; the company announced the morning.
The closure of the deal comes on the heels of a months-long probe into whether the deal could further enhance Google’s position in the advertising market as it could use data of Fitbit users to personalize ads.
“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’s Senior Vice President of devices and services, Rick Osterloh, said in a statement.
“We worked with global regulators on an approach which safeguards consumers’ privacy expectations, including a series of binding commitments that confirm Fitbit users’ health and wellness data won’t be used for Google ads and this data will be separated from other Google ads data,” Osterloh added.
The company also noted that it will continue to allow Fitbit users to connect different health and wellness apps to their Fitbit accounts.
The acquisition of Fitbit puts Google in a stronger position in the connected wearable market. While Fitbit has lost market share and revenue over the years, it has continued to add active users year after year. As of 2019, the company had more than 29 million active users, accounting for a quarter of its device sales.