The European Commission (CE) approved this Thursday that the American multinational Google acquires the technology firm for sports and health Fitbit, an operation valued at about $ 2.1 billion.
“We can approve Google’s proposed acquisition of Fitbit because the commitments will guarantee that the market for portable devices and the incipient digital health space will remain open and competitive, “declared the Executive Vice President of the EC in a statement responsible for Competence, Margrethe Vestager.
Approval is subject to Google meeting the “package” of commitments agreed with the Community Executive, which last August opened an investigation to study the operation.
Brussels feared that the operation would strengthen “even more the position of Google in the online advertising markets, increasing the volume of data that Google could use to personalize its advertising that it proposes or displays. ”
The commitments of the multinational, Vestager added, will determine “how Google may use the collected data for advertising purposes, how interoperability between competing portable devices and Android will be protected, and how users can continue to share health and fitness data, if they so choose. ”
The Commission describes Fitbit as a company with “a limited market share in Europe in the fast-growing smartwatch segment where many larger competitors such as Apple, Garmin and Samsung are present. ”
A spokesperson for the multinational said that “this agreement will stimulate innovation in portable devices and will allow us to design products that help people lead healthier lives.”
And he added: “We understand that the regulators wanted to take a closer look at this operation and we have worked constructively with them to resolve their concerns. ”
Brussels explained that their analysis “focused on data collected through Fitbit wearable devices and the interoperability of wearable devices with Google’s Android operating system for smartphones.
“The proposed transaction leads to very limited horizontal overlaps between Google and Fitbit activities,” concluded the Community Executive.
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