Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, October 23, 2019.
Erin Scott | Reuters
Facebook is the mystery “Party A” revealed in an SEC filing that bid several times to acquire health-wearables maker Fitbit, including a best and final offer of $7.30 per share, according to people familiar with the matter.
Google announced its intentions to acquire Fitbit on Nov. 1 for about $2.1 billion in cash, or $7.35 per share. Facebook views the sale process as complete and doesn’t plan to bid again now that Google has agreed to the purchase, one of the people said. A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment. A Fitbit spokesperson also declined to comment beyond the SEC filing.
According to the filing, Fitbit CEO James Park had dinner with “the chief executive officer of Party A” on June 11, 2019 to discuss the wearables technology landscape. That person would be Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, sources said. Park and other members of Fitbit’s senior management had dinner with Zuckerberg again on July 2, the filing said. Zuckerberg and Park met once more in September, according to the filing.
In October, Facebook bid several times to acquire Fitbit, the filing said, but ultimately said $7.30 per share was the company’s best and final offer.
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