Google reportedly beat Facebook and offered twice as much to acquire Fitbit for $2.1 billion
Google doesn't just want a place in your home. It reportedly fought off Facebook to earn a spot on your wrist.
On Friday, after a week of rumors, Google announced it will be acquiring Fitbit, the wearable fitness trackers, for $2.1 billion. This latest move comes after Google's $40 million purchase of Fossil's smartwatch technology in January, reports CNBC, and shows the tech giant's "aggressive attempt" to up their game in the wearables race, The New York Times observes.
Facebook has also been expanding its hardware portfolio with "Oculus virtual headsets, Portal smart speakers and planned AR glasses," and their interest in health tracking goes back to 2014, when the social network acquired a fitness app called Moves, The Verge notes. So it may not be surprising that Facebook purportedly held talks to buy the smartwatch pioneer — but ultimately, Facebook lost the deal to Google, who offered twice as much, reports The Information.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Google's presence in the wearables market is limited to Wear OS, which failed to sway Apple Watch users, CNET notes. And while Fitbit was the closest competitor to Apple Watch — which owns about half of the global wearables market — Fitbit has been struggling this year, reporting sinking sales in its July earnings, the Times reports.
"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," Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park told CNN Business. As a reality check for the celebrating tech companies, Wired predicts that the acquisition "will attract the attention of antitrust regulators" before the deal is finalized in 2020.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ramisa Rob is a web intern at The Week. She is also an investigative reporting fellow at Brian Ross Investigates, and has previously worked for the The Daily Star. A recent graduate of the University of Michigan, she is currently pursuing her Masters at NYU Tisch.
-
Mall World: why are people dreaming about a shopping centre?Under The Radar Thousands of strangers are dreaming about the same thing and no one sure why
-
Why scientists are attempting nuclear fusionThe Explainer Harnessing the reaction that powers the stars could offer a potentially unlimited source of carbon-free energy, and the race is hotting up
-
Codeword: October 27, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
