Google-Fitbit deal poses test for merger cops eyeing data giants

Google’s US$2.1bil (RM8.70bil) acquisition of Fitbit would add wearable devices to the Internet giant’s hardware business. It also advances the ambitions of Google parent Alphabet Inc to expand in the health-care sector by adding data from Fitbit’s more than 28 million users. — Reuters

Google’s plan to buy Fitbit Inc is running into a wall of antitrust and privacy worries in the US, Europe and Australia, where competition officials are increasingly wary of how Internet giants can exert control over data to cement their dominance.

Google’s US$2.1bil (RM8.70bil) acquisition of the maker of smartwatches and fitness trackers, announced in November, would add wearable devices to the Internet giant’s hardware business. It also advances the ambitions of Google parent Alphabet Inc to expand in the health-care sector by adding data from Fitbit’s more than 28 million users. Google has struck cloud-service partnerships with hospital groups and signed a deal with Mayo Clinic to build new artificial intelligence tools.