TomTom cleared to purchase Tele Atlas, Garmin shrugs

Despite issuing an early statement of objection, the EC has come around to see the merits of a TomTom / Tele Atlas deal. In fact, the two companies have received "unconditional clearance" from the European Commission for the proposed acquisition. The US already approved the deal in October. Thing is, shareholders better get a move on since the bidding-war-boosted $4.2 billion offer (plus another $300 million thanks to the weakass dollar) made in November is set to expire on May 30th. Although it could be extended. Of course, Garmin made a move for Tele Atlas early on with a $3.3 billion bid of its own. Nevertheless, with TomTom profits heading downward and Garmin's own, hotly anticipated Nuvifone on the horizon, maybe Garmin will be laughing last after all.

[silverblackvoid @ May 14th 2008 7:09AM]

the dollar may be weakass now, but not for long

[silverblackvoid @ May 14th 2008 12:35PM]

wtf. why did i get low ranked.

[rooster_shortburn @ May 14th 2008 7:48AM]

BLAA BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAHBLAH BLAH. BLAH BLAH, BLAH BLAH BLAH BLABLAH


GARMIN GOING TO BANCKRUPT

[gehi3232 @ May 14th 2008 3:53PM]

Garmin is the next Research In Motion! The Nuvifone in addition to all of Garmin's other great products will spell the demise of TomTom. Can't wait to get my Nuvifone in September!!

[nxtiak @ May 14th 2008 10:23AM]

I've always liked Garmin GPSes.

[Nick M. @ May 14th 2008 10:47AM]

is the Nuvifone really "hotly anticipated"? Seemed alot of people were sayin "meh... okay idea but the additional charges for GPS functionality is BS"

[YouFaceTheTick @ May 14th 2008 11:25AM]

handheld GPS market = same fate as the pocket calculator and generic wristwatch. Some will still buy them but for the most part handheld GPS will be a really small market in by 2012.

[Greg Baz @ May 14th 2008 12:01PM]

IK think garmin bid just to make TomTom pay more money. They did it to weaken their competitor.

[granny down east @ May 14th 2008 12:24PM]

It would have been a cooler headline if Atlas shrugged.

[Tony C @ May 14th 2008 12:33PM]

Not sure what the "weak ass dollar" has to do with this transaction other than its converted value. Tom Tom is based in the the Netherlands and Tele Atlas is based in Belgium, so the transaction is valued in Euros. The "dollar" has absolutely nothing to do with the sale.

[idomagic @ May 16th 2008 1:29PM]

Will nüviphone even come to europe?
Personally I really don't see what the fuss is about, there's already plenty of options for navigation in phones, and most likely Nokia and SonyEricsson has the phone-bit slightly better covered than the nüviphone will have.

Garmin needs a really good competitor to replace the 7xx-series, but I guess that's already on it's way, anything else would be stupid.