Consumer Electronics
Fitbit Set to Expand Its User Base as Google Acquisition Is Confirmed
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The rumor mill sometimes is proven to be correct, and that’s the case for Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL). A press release issued on Friday morning says Alphabet’s Google will acquire Fitbit for roughly $2.1 billion. The all-cash transaction will come to a purchase price of $7.35 per share.
Google will be taking on roughly 28 million active users around the world who are tracking their health with Fitbit devices and programs. Fitbit CEO James Park called Google is an ideal partner to advance Fitbit’s mission to accelerate innovation in the wearables category and to make health even more accessible to everyone.
Google plans to tie in Fitbit’s hardware, software and artificial intelligence to build wearables and to add to that base of users. The press release also indicated that Fitbit has sold more than 100 million devices and that the company already supports a community of millions of active users around the globe.
As for how Fitbit’s interoperability will work, the press release indicated that Fitbit will remain “platform-agnostic” and will continue to work for both Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. The release also indicated that Fitbit will continue to have its users be in control of their data and that there will be transparency about the data that is collected and why. The actual statement noted: “The company never sells personal information, and Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads.”
Assuming there are no regulatory hurdles and assuming Fitbit shareholders approve the deal, Google and Fitbit expect that the acquisition will close in 2020.
While a $7.35 share price is not much of a premium from the prior day’s close of $6.18, the share price was $4.30 before the rumors of a merger broke early this week. The highest the shares traded on the rumor was $6.37, so some could argue this is a stronger price than what was expected.
All things being equal, Fitbit is a former high-flyer that had its wings clipped after peaking at nearly $50 in 2015 after its initial public offering. The shares seem to have traded ever lower since, and they have not seen $10 since the fourth quarter of 2016.
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