Apple And Google Interested In Buying BOKU?
by Joe White
November 1, 2010
Apple and Google are reportedly both interested in purchasing mobile payments startup, BOKU. According to a TechCrunch source, both companies have been holding talks with BOKU President and CEO Mark Britto, and co-founder, Ron Hirson.
BOKU's people have reportedly been involved in some pretty intense meetings with Google's Director of Engineering Michael Morrissey, who controls development for Google Mobile Services for Android. Already, BOKU can be used in the Android Market, so it's no wonder Google is looking into furthering their relationship with BOKU.
However, now Apple is also interested in BOKU, meaning both companies could be locked in a brutal bidding war. How high could the final price go?
TechCrunch notes:
A potential M&A deal would involve a transaction for a nine-digit sum according to one source. We are unable to pinpoint an exact price at this stage of the negotiations, but our source says Apple, for one, could end up spending at least $250 million (and up to $450 million) to acquire BOKU.As of this moment, there has been no agreement, so the talks could amount to nothing. As always, we'll keep you posted.
