Garmin Doesn't Want To Be Left Without Maps... Bids On Tele Atlas
from the musical-mapping-chairs dept
Over the summer, navigation device maker TomTom announced plans to buy Tele Atlas, one of the two leading providers of mapping data. Earlier this month, Nokia announced plans to buy Navteq, the other major provider. That resulted in immediate speculation about how Garmin (TomTom's main competitor) would respond. Apparently, the answer is with lots and lots of money. Garmin has now put in an unsolicited bid of $3.3 billion for Tele Atlas, hoping to outbid its rival by 15%. So, at this point, a game of musical chairs begins, with Nokia, Garmin and TomTom fighting it out over the two mapping data providers. Since both TomTom and Garmin seem to feel that they need to have Tele Atlas, don't be surprised to see the price keep going up.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: gps, mapping data, navigation data
Companies: garmin, navteq, nokia, teleatlas, tomtom
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Pardon me for being the cynic today. It is possible for businessmen to be noble. I just wont speculate as to the likelihood.
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I think it's more caused by a fear that once Nokia takes Navteq, Garmin may not have *any* one who can provide maps...
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Because Navteq is more than double the price...
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getting hot
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(4:37 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Garmin Ltd., (GRMN) the Cayman Islands producer of navigation and communications equipment driven by global-positioning technology, proposed to buy Tele Atlas NV for 24.5 euros ($35.31) a share, or 2.3 billion euros ($3.31 billion). Separately, Garmin reported third-quarter earnings rose 57%, and it named Cliff Pemble president and chief operating officer. Tele Atlas (TLATF) is the Gent, Belgium, producer of navigation and mapping technology.
Garmin said the deal is subject to conditions including antitrust clearances and receipt of at least two-thirds of Tele Atlas's share capital. Garmin said it has financing in place for the proposal. The offer price is a 2% premium to Tele Atlas's closing price of 24.01 euros in Amsterdam trading on Tuesday. It is 15% higher than TomTom's (TMOAF) proposal of 21.25 euros a share. And Garmin said it is 48% above Tele Atlas's stock price on July 20, before the deal proposals started. TomTom is the Amsterdam navigation-solutions provider. (Updates to add headquarters and description for TomTom.)
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Only two providers?
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Re: Only two providers?
Navteq --> MSN
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Re: Re: Only two providers?
Google --> Navteq
MSN --> either or both
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That's Unfortunate
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Google maps API --> Tele Atlas
FYI:
Yahoo --> Both
Mapquest --> Navteq or AND
"Geocoding data for map content in Google Maps is provided under license by Navteq North America LLC ("NAVTEQ") and/or Tele Atlas North America, Inc. ("TANA") and/or other third parties"
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magellan?
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