Neil Hughes
Whether or not Apple is still in the running to buy Nokia's Here, the digital mapping service will likely sell for more than $3 billion thanks to a bid made by transportation service Uber.
Uber has officially submitted its $3 billion offer for Nokia Here, sources familiar with the process reportedly indicated to The New York Times. The bid from Uber is said to be competing with one from a consortium made up of BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Baidu.
Not mentioned in the story is whether Apple is in the running. It was reported last month that Nokia was courting Apple in an effort to earn $3.2 billion for the sale of Here.
If Apple were to buy Nokia's Here for that asking price, it would be the largest acquisition in the company's history, eclipsing the $3 billion it spent on Beats last year.
The Here maps business has been a bright spot for Nokia as the company has struggled during its attempts to restructure as a networking company. Last quarter, the Here mapping division saw its profits increase by 20 percent to 162 million euros.
Others said to have shown interest in Nokia Here are Facebook and Microsoft. The Nokia maps business has more than 80 percent market share among vehicle built-in navigation systems.
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37 Comments
Let them have it. Not worth that much to Apple.
yeah, what would apple gain aside from people? better to take a fraction of that money and invest in their own mapping efforts.
The original article mentioned that a business consortium of European car manufacturers also really wants it because they see autonomous cars on the horizon and Nokia's 3D high resolution maps are seen as absolutely required and they don't want it to fall into the hands of a single company that might block them from using it. If Apple does not bid on this it might be seen as a signal that they are not building an autonomous self driving auto.
wtf.
Uber doesn't even have $3 billion
They could borrow the money, or partner with some other entity. Nokia has also indicated that they might want to remain a partial stakeholder in their maps business. Also Uber is expected to have their IPO this year.
well, Nokia bought the map operation back in 2007 for $8.1B. A $3B now would be a steal. Excerpt From Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navteq On 1 October, 2007, it was announced that Nokia would acquire NAVTEQ in a deal valued at an estimated US$8.1 billion (%u20AC5.7 billion). NAVTEQ shareholders approved the deal in December 2007. The European Commission in July 2008 ruled the deal did not violate antitrust rules clearing the way for closing the deal.