Alphabet, the owner of Google, has reportedly made a buyout offer for wearable technology company Fitbit, according to Reuters.
The offer, which is unconfirmed at this time, would help the company compete against Apple, which has been growing its presence in the wearables space. Both Google and Fitbit declined to comment when contacted by Fortune, citing their policy not to comment on rumor and speculation.
According to Reuters, the deal has not yet been agreed to and negotiations are continuing.
Fitbit has a long history in the wearables market, but its first effort at a smartwatch fell flat. The second model, the Versa, did much better, though. And the announcement of the Versa 2 earlier this year created excitement, in part because of its low $200 price tag and rich feature list.
Apple, meanwhile, recently released the Series 5 Apple Watch, a $400 device with an always-on display, which generated a lot of buzz. Smartwatches have been a growth area for Apple. Over the past year, Apple Watch sales surpassed $15 billion, or about the size of a Fortune 200 company, CEO Tim Cook revealed in July.
Fitbit shares soared on the news, jumping more than 27% between 11:45 a.m. ET and 12 p.m. ET.
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