Google to Acquire Waze for $1.3 Billion?

Sources have told Globes that Google will acquire the Waze maps application for $1.3 billion following months of acquisition rumors and negotiations.

Both Apple and Facebook were also rumored to be interested in Waze. According to reports, Facebook representatives arrived in Israel for negotiations but the high price and request that employees remain in Israel prevent Facebook from signing a deal.

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.


The acquisition is set to turn some Waze founders into multimillionaires. CTO Ehud Shabtai will earn $78 million, president Uri Levine will earn $38 million, VP R&D Amir Shinar and his brother Gili will earn $65 million.

You can download Waze from the App Store for free. More details at the link below...

Read More [via Tzvi]