Google Buys Israel's Waze Map App

As was much anticipated, Google bought the popular Israeli mapping app Waze on Tuesday for an undisclosed sum, according to its blog.

"To help you outsmart traffic, today we're excited to announce we've closed the acquisition of Waze," the blog, written by Geo Vice President Brian McClendon, stated. "This fast-growing community of traffic-obsessed drivers is working together to find the best routes from home to work every day."

A source close to the matter told Reuters that Google reportedly beat out Facebook and Apple to buy the crowd-sourcing app for $1.3 billion.

The Israel-based Waze, which uses GPS data and crowdsourcing to create "social mapping," had been wooed by Apple, Facebook and now Google.

Facebook had been in talks with Waze for six months, supposedly beating out Apple's $500 million offer for the startup.

It was rumored that Apple wanted the mapping startup to beef up its in-house Apple Maps after its previous Apple Maps fiasco. Facebook was reportedly offering $1 billion — the same price given to purchase Instagram — but became entrenched in a bidding war with Google. If the deal goes through, Google obviously outbid its competitors. 

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