The deal for the Facebook acquisition of Israeli based Waze has hit a major snag.
Reports on Monday by Ynetnews , Israel's largest and most popular news website, state that the future of the navigation company's development center in Israel is a major issue driving the two sides apart. Facebook insists on relocating some of Israeli navigation company's employees to its San Francisco headquarters, while Waze executives want the development center to remain in Israel.
According to the Ynetnews article, Waze founders are adamant about leaving the development center and its 100 employee in Israel and that could be the deal breaker. As Facebook has acquired companies in the past it has typically liquidated the old company and merged the resources with their California headquarters.
Last week TechCrunch reported that Facebook was buying social mapping traffic app Waze for roughly $1 billion. Waze is a community based traffic and navigation app which allows users to share real-time information. The attached video discussed the TechCrunch report.
The acquisition of Waze makes sense for Facebook as it would give them a mapping service of their own and be able to compete directly with Microsoft, Google, and Apple in that area. But if they can't come to terms with Waze, they may have to keep shopping for a solution.
Stay tuned for updates.
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via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/article/talks-between-facebook-and-israeli-based-waze-are-falling-apart?cid=roadrunner