Why Waze is worth $1.3 billion to Google

Imagine if Google Maps could help you outsmart traffic in real-time

Waze has 45 million users in 190 countries.
(Image credit: Facebook.com/Waze)

In the Game of Maps (you know, the ongoing war between tech giants for world dominance in mapping), Google may be nearing a huge win. Israeli publication Globes says the search giant is about to close a deal to buy Waze, a relatively small Israeli company with a mapping app that crowd-sources user data for up-to-the-minute traffic information. The price would be about $1.3 billion, topping Facebook's rumored $1 billion attempt, and making it the fourth largest Google acquisition to date.

Waze continually collects GPS data from its roughly 45 million users' phones, helping them "outsmart traffic" and find "the best route to work and back, every day," says the company's website. Users can edit maps in real-time, warning other drivers about traffic accidents, and sharing gas prices and locations of speed-sensing cameras.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

Carmel Lobello is the business editor at TheWeek.com. Previously, she was an editor at DeathandTaxesMag.com.