Google Reportedly Set To Acquire Mapping Rival Waze For $1.3 Billion
June 10, 2013
The Google-Waze acquisition deal is going the $1.3 billion route.
According to sources of Israeli financial newspaper Globes, the search giant, which is also behind the popular Google Maps service, is set to acquire the Israeli social mapping and navigation startup for $1.3 billion.
The deal comes after months of reports claiming that Waze would be purchased by either Google or Facebook, with Apple rumored to have been involved as well.
Back in January, Apple was rumored to be looking into buying Waze. But Apple CEO Tim Cook himself said during his interview at the recently concluded D11 conference that his company did not make a bid for Waze.
Then, last month, it was reported that Facebook had been in "advanced talks" to acquire Waze. But discussions between the social networking behemoth and the social mapping startup eventually fell through.
According to Globes, the main reason behind the unfruitful talks between Facebook and Waze was the price tag. It adds:
Another reason was that Waze insisted that its Israeli employees should continue working in Israel, which Facebook did not accept. Google has already made two acquisitions in Israel, and it has an office here, in contrast to Facebook, which closed most of the companies it acquired, including Israeli start-ups. Both previous Israeli acquisitions by Google were modest. Google acquired personalized Website gadget developer Labpixies for $25 million and interactive video-clip developer Quiksee for $10 million. Both acquisitions were in 2010.Globes had sought Google and Waze for comment, but both declined to respond to its sources' claims. Waze for iOS was updated late last month with support for Facebook events, among other enhancements.