JERUSALEM (JTA) — Facebook is in advanced talks to buy the Israeli navigation technology firm Waze.
The Israeli business daily Calcalist reported Thursday that a term sheet, under which Facebook would acquire Waze for $800 million to $1 billion, was signed in recent days following six months of negotiations.
Waze, a free downloadable navigation app with more than 34 million subscribers, did not respond to media inquiries about the Facebook deal. Asked by the Israeli business daily Globes whether Facebook would close the company, as it has done with its previous acquisitions, Waze replied, “Don’t worry, we’ll be all right,” Globes reported.
It would be Facebook’s third acquisition of an Israeli company following Snaptu and Face.com.
Waze, which at the beginning of the year participated in acquisition talks with Apple, released an updated version last October that allows users to post their trip on Facebook.
