Source: Facebook held talks to acquire Fitbit but wanted to pay roughly half of the $2.1B that Google eventually agreed to pay
it has to be extremely valuable to Google. Of course, the acquisition can also affect that trust, if no lessons are learnt from Nest. https://twitter.com/... Luther Lowe / @lutherlowe : Google's brazen attempt to acquire FitBit while so much antitrust scrutiny against the company swirls globally is shocking but not surprising. A quick glance at FitBit's privacy policy reveals some of the data Google gets from FitBit users if the deal is approved: pic.twitter.com/ZYZNPv1VUC Dieter Bohn / @backlon : Fitbit is going to be part of Google's hardware division, this is about Google getting smarter at making wearable hardware — Wear OS is almost tangential to this deal from what I can tell. https://www.theverge.com/... Neil Cybart / @neilcybart : It's very impressive that Fitbit managed to get $7.35 per share from Google. Fitbit shares last traded at that level back in January 2017. Google could have easily stuck it to Fitbit at this point but they didn't likely to make Fitbit employees happy and stay on board. Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Fitbit resumed trading. Up 16% now https://www.cnbc.com/... Mark DeLoura / @markdeloura : Am starting to believe there might be a real market for devices that strictly report data back to a home brain and nowhere else. Congratulations to Fitbit! But I can't help wonder what new ads will come from my 9 years of weight and activity data. 😬 https://twitter.com/... Paul R. La Monica / @lamonicabuzz : And there it is. Fitbit getting bought by Google/Alphabet for $2.1 billion. $7.35 a share. Nearly 20% premium to yesterday's closing price. $FIT $GOOGL https://investor.fitbit.com/ ...
The InformationAlex Heath
Context & Ripple Effects
Fitbit's sale capped a short bidding arc: Google agreed to pay $7.35 a share in cash, about $2.1B, while Facebook had held talks aiming at roughly half that price before returning with several lower bids, including a final offer of $7.30 a share. The gap is the story — Facebook priced Fitbit as a declining hardware brand; Google priced it as something else.
What Google was actually buying is contested in the same coverage. Android Police framed the deal as a top-down executive bet that Fitbit can revive Wear OS, while Dieter Bohn reported Fitbit lands in Google's hardware division — and Luther Lowe pointed to Fitbit's own privacy policy to catalog the user data Google would gain, invoking the Nest precedent as the trust test.
First-order effects
Fitbit shareholders take Google's $7.35-per-share cash over Facebook's lower bids, and Fitbit stops existing as an independent company.
Facebook loses a shipping wearable installed base and its health-sensor data stream to its closest rival in attention and advertising.
Second-order effects
Critics like Luther Lowe now have a concrete regulatory hook: Fitbit's published privacy policy spells out exactly which user data flows to Google, turning the Nest trust record into the template for scrutinizing this deal.
The Android Police critique raises the internal stakes for Google's hardware division — if Fitbit doesn't visibly revive Wear OS, the premium over Facebook's bid reads as pure data acquisition.
Third-order effects
If this clears review amid global antitrust scrutiny of Google, wearable health data will likely harden into its own merger-review category — body-generated sensor data treated as a trust boundary between consumers and ad-funded platforms.
The bidding gap sketches a durable pricing structure: strategic acquirers that can fold sensor data into an existing platform will consistently outbid rivals who value the device business alone.
The trend: Consumer health-wearables are being absorbed by ad-funded platforms, with the spread between bidders' offers tracking how much each side values the underlying sensor data rather than the hardware.
Also, the fact that this paragraph about privacy needed to be included in the Fitbit / Google press release speaks volume. Fitbit (and Google) know Fitbit users are not going to be thrilled to discover they are wearing a Google product on their bodies. pic.twitter.com/NW88wwa2p1
One of the Black Mirror episodes written by participants in my session at MozFest was about a FitBit with ads where it tried to steer the wearer towards activities that would lead to purchasing behavior. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Oh boy. Think of how much sensitive personal data Fitbit owns - location, health, network data, all the integrations with other apps and services. Watch for antitrust action on this. https://twitter.com/...
Sen. Hawley, often a Google critic, is questioning why the company should be cleared to buy FitBit while it faces a DOJ competition probe. https://twitter.com/...
Who would have been a good suitor for Fitbit? I'm not sure (don't say Microsoft), but I don't have faith in Google. I don't see how mixing Wear OS + Fitbit is going to move the needle for Google vs Apple. This isn't a strategy shift, it's a Hail Mary. https://www.windowscentral.c…
1/ Google's $2.1 billion purchase of Fitbit represents much more than a hardware play for wearables, my colleague @satariano writes. It is also a major digital health merger. https://www.nytimes.com/...
$2.1 billion to get information my doctor won't even email to another doctor without me signing a release feels exceedingly cheap. https://twitter.com/...
Google to buy Fitbit for $2.1 billion. That's a big number for Fitbit, all things considered. https://www.businesswire.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Scoop: Facebook also held talks to acquire Fitbit, but ultimately was only willing to pay roughly half of the $2.1 billion price Google said today it will pay for the business http://thein.fo/...
Google buying Fitbit for $2.1bn, which is only a slight premium over today's market cap of $1.8bn - though share price has shot up as rumours of acquisition spread. More consolidation, happening faster. Not sure it will make a true Apple Watch rival tho. https://blog.google/... h…
This is great news for wearables and Fitbit. However, calling Google a competitor to Apple seems premature. Fitbit failed to capitalise on Pebble's tech and Wear OS efforts so far look underwhelming. https://twitter.com/...
Google is promising “Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads.” https://wapo.st/2r3NhUg I also remember when Google acquired Nest and @tfadell said home data would “not go into the greater Google or any of its other business units.”
With Fitbit, Google can possibly gain a lot more insight into the health data about users. Many trust Fitbit with this data — it has to be extremely valuable to Google. Of course, the acquisition can also affect that trust, if no lessons are learnt from Nest. https://twitter.com/…
Google's brazen attempt to acquire FitBit while so much antitrust scrutiny against the company swirls globally is shocking but not surprising. A quick glance at FitBit's privacy policy reveals some of the data Google gets from FitBit users if the deal is approved: pic.twitter.com…
Fitbit is going to be part of Google's hardware division, this is about Google getting smarter at making wearable hardware — Wear OS is almost tangential to this deal from what I can tell. https://www.theverge.com/...
It's very impressive that Fitbit managed to get $7.35 per share from Google. Fitbit shares last traded at that level back in January 2017. Google could have easily stuck it to Fitbit at this point but they didn't likely to make Fitbit employees happy and stay on board.
Am starting to believe there might be a real market for devices that strictly report data back to a home brain and nowhere else. Congratulations to Fitbit! But I can't help wonder what new ads will come from my 9 years of weight and activity data. 😬 https://twitter.com/...
And there it is. Fitbit getting bought by Google/Alphabet for $2.1 billion. $7.35 a share. Nearly 20% premium to yesterday's closing price. $FIT $GOOGL https://investor.fitbit.com/ ...