[DS Notes] Bloomberg Says Google is Also Bidding for Waze

Real-time crowd sourced traffic map Waze is looking at an acquisition bid from Google following a report that Facebook is making an offer to the Israeli startup recently. While Google already has traffic report and even public transportation data on Google Maps, Waze’s method is preferable to 40 million of its users. With bids from Facebook and Google, the company is likely to pull this situation into a bidding war in addition to considering further venture funding instead to expand its services should the bids prove to be unfavorable. Waze’s map service is free for users but the company makes money from selling advertising within its maps.

AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher says Google has no chance since the US federal government will step in.

Will never happen for google (hello Feds!)mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-2…

— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) May 24, 2013