The Federal Trade Commission is reviewing Google’s recent purchase of the Israeli mobile navigation company Waze, which is headquartered in Palo Alto.
Google agreed to acquire Waze for a reported $1.1 billion on June 11, the fourth-largest dollar value deal in Google’s 15-year history according to reports.
Waze is a free downloadable navigation app with nearly 50 million subscribers in 190 countries. It draws on a mobile device’s GPS information to learn about traffic flow on the roads and to provide drivers with better routes.
The startup was recently highlighted in a j. cover story about UpWest Labs, a Palo Alto–based incubator for some of Israel’s top young entrepreneurs and startups. Waze was part of the program.
To halt the sale, the FTC would have to find evidence to prove that the deal would hurt competition in the area of navigation and mapping apps.
Google already has its popular Google Maps software. The FTC likely will look into whether Google made the purchase, beating out companies such as Facebook and Apple, to keep it away from the competition. — jta