They announced the acquisition in 2019 but it had to get regulatory approval first. A lot of people expected regulators to reject the acquisition.
I consider it a massive failure of our governments that whilst acknowledging Google is a monopoly and engaging in antitrust cases against them, they also permitted Google to buy a multibillion dollar company that will expand their monopoly.
Should they really be penalized before being convicted?
Consider that Oracle claims that the regulatory actions around the world against Google are because they ran an extensive but secret lobbying campaign against Google to make this happen.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-23/oracle-fo...
With enough lobbying dollars much is possible - isn't this a reminder to wait for the outcome before you convict?
Also, clearly the monopoly that is being suggested is not in this area - in fact, there is a danger in the dominance of Apple's watch and this should increase competition.
Yep. Maybe they'll object to the acquisition a year later after Google has safely 5x 3-AZ replicated all the heart rate, sleep and location data from millions of people. Apparently Google is simultaneously a monopoly due to the market power they gained using data but yet safe enough to trust with pings every minute from people wearing a watch all day. Its nuts.
