Google Acquires Fitbit

This is one of those mergers that I find hard to classify - is it a form of vertical integration, with Google becoming more customer facing, or is it akin to a conglomerate merger, as Google looks to diversify markets?

Either way, fitness device maker, Fitbit has been snapped up by Google for $2.1bn, however, many Fitbit users are likely to be concerned that Google has access to their fitness data. Another thought that occurs is that it seems increasingly likely that Google is going to diversify further into the digital health/fitness/medical markets in the years ahead. Fitbit has 28 million active users, but it has sold more than 100 million devices.

We can add Fitbit to the list of Google acquisitions over the years:

2019: Fitbit

• 2019: Looker
• 2017: HTC Pixel
• 2016: Apigee
• 2014: Skybox
• 2014: DeepMind
• 2014: Nest
• 2013: Waze
• 2011: Motorola M
• 2011: ITA
• 2009: AdMob
• 2007: DoubleClick
• 2006: YouTube
• 2005: Android

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