Google to Acquire Waze for $1.3 Billion?

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Posted June 10, 2013 at 2:24pm by iClarified

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...

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Google to Acquire Waze for $1.3 Billion?

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paulMOGG - June 12, 2013 at 12:09am

I agree in Googles hands WAZE will change from the great app it is now to another app that has been overworked and things attached to it that are of very little use ! ' Google buy it and keep it in essence what it is now just update it just to be more efficient so is mortals can just use it'

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Perone - June 10, 2013 at 6:51pm

Import it into Google Maps. I like the interface so much better!

Maverick - June 10, 2013 at 5:40pm

M&A is supposed to add values to customer and shareholders. But as the world goes, this is not always true. I am big fan of Waze and looking behind with the examples of products after acquisitions, i guess Waze will be lost in the google somewhere. At this time we can just hope end customers like us would be able to have some product similiar or better than waze after the acquisition.

Pj - June 10, 2013 at 4:26pm

I have mixed feelings about this acquisition. I'm afraid that Waze will become "bloat ware" after Google works it over or worse yet it could disappear. I use Waze daily. It's been my go to GPS map for a long time. It's well designed and easy to use. I love the concept. I hate to see it taken over and "googleized".

justabrake - June 10, 2013 at 3:31pm

crazy to throw money around like that !

RR - June 10, 2013 at 2:38pm

No please. It becomes monopoly.