After reports last week, Google has confirmed this morning that it will acquire Fitbit for the sum of $2.1 billion…

Rick Osterloh put out a post today on Google’s blog to confirm that Alphabet has entered a “definitive agreement” to acquire Fitbit as it looks to bolster its wearables offering. Osterloh specifically mentions that the company is looking to “invest even more” in its Wear OS platform with this acquisition and bring Made by Google wearable devices to the market.

CNBC reports that Alphabet will shell out around $2.1 billion to acquire Fitbit which has become a leader in the wearable space, managing to hold its own against the Apple Watch and beat out Google’s own Wear OS to a healthy margin too.

Addressing privacy concerns, Osterloh says that, with wearables, Google will “be transparent” about the data they collect and why that data is collected. Google will not sell personal data to anyone and Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads either. Fitbit users will also be given the choice to review, move, or delete their data.

Looking forward to working with @parkjames & the really talented team @fitbit, excited about what we can do together! https://t.co/qkWUnrMKVB

— Rick Osterloh (@rosterloh) November 1, 2019

In a press release, Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park calls Google “an ideal partner” to advance Fitbit’s mission. He says:

Google’s acquisition of Fitbit is expected to close in 2020 and will be subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

More on Wear OS:

  • ‘Made by Google’ wearables are coming as Google invests in Wear OS’ future
  • The Moto 360 is being re-released for 2019 w/ new internals, familiar design
  • ‘Snapdragon Wear 3300’ for Wear OS may bring 5 years of performance improvements

Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news: