TomTom offers $2.5 billion for map maker Tele Atlas
TomTom is currently the world's largest manufacturer of car navigation devices, but doesn't seem content to settle there, and has just put a $2.5 billion bid in for Tele Atlas, which provides maps for the likes of MapQuest, Google Maps, and of course navigation devices aplenty. TomTom currently accounts for around 40 percent of Tele Atlas' business, and says the deal would allow for improved maps and new features like daily map updates and better routing. TomTom would operate Tele Atlas as an independent business unit, and keep offering maps to other manufacturers -- who might take issue with their map dollars falling right into a competitor's pocket. If everything goes as planned, the two companies should be getting hitched by the end of 2007.
