Google muscles up with Fitbit deal amid antitrust concerns

Google has completed its $2.1 billion acquisition of fitness-gget maker Fitbit, a deal that could help internet company grow even stronger while U.S. government regulators pursue an antitrust case aimed at undermining its power.

Thursday's completion of acquisition comes 14 months after Google anunced a deal that immediately raised alarms.

Google makes most of its money by selling s based on information it collects about its billions of users’ interests and whereabouts. Privacy watchdogs feared it might exploit Fitbit to peer even deeper into people's lives.

But Google wound up entering a series of commitments in Europe and or parts of world pledging it won't use health and fitness data from Fitbit's 29 million users to sell more s. It insists it is more interested in ding Fitbit to its expanding arsenal of internet-connected products, which include smartphones, laptops, speakers, cameras and rmostats.

“This deal has always been about devices, t data, and we’ve been clear since beginning that we will protect Fitbit users’ privacy," Rick Osterloh, Google's senior vice president of devices and services, wrote in a Thursday blog post.

Google is scooping up Fitbit — a company that has sold about 120 million devices in 100 countries since its 2009 founding — while it fights a series of lawsuits filed by U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general. lawsuits allege Google abuses power that it has amassed as owner of world's most dominant search engine. Justice Department's lawsuit isn't scheduled to go to trail until September 2023.

Since starting out with thing more than its namesake search engine in 1998, Google has become a dominant player in email, digital maps, web browsing and mobile devices through its Android operating system. success of those free services propels a digital vertising empire and is main reason Google's corporate parent, Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc., boasts a market value of nearly $1.2 trillion.

Justice Department h until Jan. 13 to object to Fitbit deal, but didn't file a formal objection. ncy didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Google said it is rey to answer any furr questions Justice Department has about its Fitbit deal.

“We are confident this deal with increase competition,” company said in a statement.