Google faces another hurdle in its planned $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit. The company failed to win over Australian regulators last week with its proposal to assuage privacy and antitrust concerns with the deal.
In June, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) listed off potential concerns with the deal, focusing on whether it would hamper competition with wearables companies and other data-dependent health services.
For example, Google could limit certain Android functionalities in wearables produced by other companies, such as the ability to receive text messages or emails.
“The ACCC continues to have concerns that Google’s acquisition of Fitbit may result in Fitbit’s rivals, other than Apple, being squeezed out of the wearables market, as they are reliant on Google’s Android system and other Google services to make their devices work effectively,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said in a news release.
Regulators also raised concerns with Google’s ability to aggregate health data after acquiring “one of the largest and most detailed existing fitness and health datasets.” Google has publicly stated that it will not use Fitbit data for its advertising business, though this commitment is not binding.
Google sought to assuage these concerns by agreeing to behave in certain ways toward rival wearable manufacturers, not using health data for advertising and in some cases, letting competing businesses access health and fitness data. European regulators accepted a similar deal from the company earlier this month, after an in-depth investigation of the proposed merger.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
But Australian regulators did not agree to Google’s proposal.
“While we are aware that the European Commission recently accepted a similar undertaking from Google, we are not satisfied that a long term behavioural undertaking of this type in such a complex and dynamic industry could be effectively monitored and enforced in Australia,” Sims said.
The ACCC will continue its investigation of the merger, with a new decision date set for March 25. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice is still reviewing the deal.
Photo credit: Fitbit
