Google finally purchased Israeli-based social navigation app, Waze.
Other interested parties included Apple and Facebook.
The amount hasn't been disclosed yet, but multiple reports suggest Waze was sold for more ~ $1 billion.
Google is letting Waze's development team remain in Israel, something that Facebook reportedly wouldn't budge on and ultimately ended buyout talks. Facebook wanted them to move to Silicon Valley.
Why did Noam Bardin, CEO of Waze, decide to sell his company? He writes that the acquisition will allow Waze to continue to work independently and it prevents the company from having to go public, a headache Bardin is eager to avoid.
Here's the announcement from Google:
We’ve all been there: stuck in traffic, frustrated that you chose the wrong route on the drive to work. But imagine if you could see real-time traffic updates from friends and fellow travelers ahead of you, calling out “fender bender...totally stuck in left lane!” and showing faster routes that others are taking.
To help you outsmart traffic, today we’re excited to announce we’ve closed the acquisition of Waze. This fast-growing community of traffic-obsessed drivers is working together to find the best routes from home to work, every day.
The Waze product development team will remain in Israel and operate separately for now. We’re excited about the prospect of enhancing Google Maps with some of the traffic update features provided by Waze and enhancing Waze with Google’s search capabilities.
We’ll also work closely with the vibrant Waze community, who are the DNA of this app, to ensure they have what’s needed to grow and prosper.
The Waze community and its dedicated team have created a great source of timely road corrections and updates. We welcome them to Google and look forward to working with them in our ongoing effort to make a comprehensive, accurate and useful map of the world.
