Waze's mobile navigation app.
After months of speculation on who would snap up Waze, Google is reportedly close to acquiring the mobile mapping and navigation company.
The search giant "will soon" close a $1.3 billion deal for the Israeli startup, according to a report Sunday by the Globes business newspaper in Waze's home country. The acquisition could help the Web giant improve its own mapping services, as well as help prevent encroachment by Facebook, which was reportedly courting Waze last month. The company apparently gained Google's attention after the Web giant learned that Facebook was in talks to buy it for as much as $1 billion. However, the two companies reportedly called off acquisition talks last month after failing to reach an agreementA Google spokesperson declined to comment on the report. CNET has also contacted Waze for comment and will update this report when we learn more.
Founded in 2007, Waze makes a mobile application for getting directions and routing around traffic with the help of other drivers. The app, which is used by 47 million people in 193 countries, uses data provided by the people who use the maps. CEO Noam Bardin has said Waze is Google's only real competition on mobile.
Source
