TeleAtlas Gives TomTom 5 Days

[Mike L.]

Here's the latest concerning TomTom, TeleAtlas and Garmin:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/sto...x?guid={32547BCB-4CBA-4A25-9FE0-BD6306733DFE}

ML

 

[digital-flex]

Talk about putting pressure eh?

 

[Mike L.]

Talk about putting pressure eh?

You know DF, it would seem that you and I are the only ones concerned about this! One would think that a lot more people would weigh in on this topic as it will affect most, if not all TomTom users on some level! Ever think what'll happen to the map upgrades if Garmin gets to buy TeleAtlas?


ML

 

[(COP)Sli]

They might actually get better!!!

 

[Wiley]

Unless TomTom can pull a rabbit out of its hat...

Ever think what'll happen to the map upgrades if Garmin gets to buy TeleAtlas?

My guess is that TomTom will immediately seek an alliance with an interested, highly capitalized, third party...to keep from giving away the farm.

As mentioned, Google, Microsoft, or a consortium of investors might buy into a very big piece of TomTom. Somehow, some big money is going to be required.

Can TomTom pull it all together in 5 days? Who knows? The bigger question is... Is Garmin motivated and able to keep raising the ante for as long as it takes to empty TomTom's piggy bank?

 

[Pedro2NR]

Wow Im barely getting into this.

Someone speed me up.
Is Garmin trying to purchase Teleatlas because Nokia purchased Navteq?

 

[Mike L.]

Pedro, in a word - YES!!!
ML

 

[jombi]

You know DF, it would seem that you and I are the only ones concerned about this! One would think that a lot more people would weigh in on this topic as it will affect most, if not all TomTom users on some level! Ever think what'll happen to the map upgrades if Garmin gets to buy TeleAtlas?


ML

Serious issue with serious impact - you bet Mike, but I don't know what weighing in will do?

Yes, I'm sure at least one of the powers that be will factor in what kind of better product can be made or at least if it can be made cheaper, but market share, EPS, stockholder value, cash on hand, stock trade etc. are far outweighing anything we might consider important to us the end user.

The phrase with "serenity, courage and wisdom" is moving through my small mind right about now

I'll keep my fingers crossed though!

 

[scotland007]

Perhaps TT is now pissed off at Teleatlas?. Both are Dutch companies and for teleatlas to sell out to a USA company, TT may now be shrugging it off. You would have figured TT would have responded by today, unless there is a further clause that allows them to counteroffer before december, however it seems that the 5 day comeback would now seal it for Garmin. Garmin has said however that they will honor all contracts that Teleatlas has with their customers. However Nokia has said the same with Navteq and i am sure they would allow their maps to be used on other units. Could this maybe now be an option for TT to move over to Navteq which from what i hear has more accurate USA Maps?

 

[Smokiewolf]

5 days is up

The five days are up, right? Anyone heard what the result is?

 

[Internetpilot]

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2007/11/06/afx4306299.html

"Earlier this week, however, Dutch newspaper reports suggested that TomTom is now able to purchase Tele Atlas shares on the open market, with Garmin (nasdaq: GRMN - news - people )'s 24.5 eur-per-share bid on Tele Atlas rendering TomTom's agreement null and void."

So....is this now turning into less of a takeover agreement and more of a hostile takeover war?

If Garmin ends up with TeleAtlas, I have no doubt that Google or some other map source will step forward to partner with TomTom, allowing for TomTom to continue business and this "new" mapsource to improve their business. The end result? Bad maps for a little while until the new mapsource gets going, but if they were partnered with TomTom, I have suspect the map quality and reliability would quickly, greatly improve. Getting their map data from a 3rd party map source like they are now is why our maps are so unreliable, inaccurate, and infrequently updated.

 

[digital-flex]

Well it looks like TomTom up the ante on the pot - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119442707084585098.html?mod=rss_Gadgets

Now the ball is on Garmin and see if they can push the bar further

 

[LeoDLion]

TeleAtlas seems to be the lifeblood of both tomtom and garmin. And 5 days is too short time to come up with the additional bucks. I say Garmin will get it.

 

[LeoDLion]

Oh, tomtom just up the ante... I taked back what I said. I think I'll just sit in the sideline and watch the bidding war.

 

[davidalan99]

as of this afternoon
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: TomTom NV, the Dutch maker of personal navigation devices, said Wednesday it will raise its offer for digital mapmaker Tele Atlas NV to ?2.9 billion (US$4.2 billion), the latest move in a bidding war with larger rival Garmin PLC.

TomTom began the bidding for Tele Atlas in July with a ?2 billion (US$2.8 billion) offer, only to see Garmin respond with a ?2.3 billion offer last week.

Now TomTom said it will rebid at ?30.00 (US$43.44) per share for Tele Atlas.

The use of digital maps is booming, and the apparent worth of Tele Atlas increased sharply on Oct. 1, when Nokia Corp. announced a US$8.1 billion (?5.7 billion) takeover bid for Navteq Corp. ? the only digital mapping company other than Tele Atlas with global operations.

Although Cayman Island-based Garmin buys its maps primarily from Navteq, Garmin said it felt forced to challenge TomTom's bid for Tele Atlas to ensure that Navteq and Tele Atlas don't both fall into competitors' hands

 

[bobball]

TT upped its offer

Source is identified at top. Taken from newsgroup:
All below taken from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/07/garmin_tomtom_teleatlas_bid_2/
where there as some links...

In sat nav, as in other forms of consumer technology, content is king.
Or at least navigation hardware providers Garmin and TomTom believe so
- the bell rings today for round two of their fight to acquire map-
data firm Tele Atlas.

Garmin topped TomTom's initial offer last week, but now the Financial
Times reports that the Dutch firm has fought back. TomTom has now
raised its bid to ?30/share, up from ?21.25 and beating Garmin's
?24.50. At teh same time, it has built up a 28 per cent stake in the
firm. The new offer values Tele Atlas at ?2.9bn.

"We are now well positioned to buy Tele Atlas," TomTom CEO Harold
Goddijn told the FT. "We are now their biggest customer and their
biggest shareholder."

Garmin and TomTom both want Tele Atlas badly, as it is the only major,
global commercial map-data provider they can buy. Navteq was recently
taken over by Nokia for $8.1bn. Whichever of the two sat nav makers
loses the bidding war will need to buy in mapping for its products
from a rival hardware provider, which is unlikely to be much fun.

Unsurprisingly, Tele Atlas shares rose above the offer price in
morning trading. Shareholders evidently don't think that Garmin will
roll over nicely.

 

[sm008]

Looks like Teleatlas liked TomTom offer

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aHtLlDSlE2Hk

luckily I have a tomtom 510 - now I need some new map update from Tomtom

 

[digital-flex]

I would like the offer too if they offered me more money

Let's see if they accept it or continue the bidding war.

 

[uocooper]

TomTom can't complete the deal soon enough. I've been really impressed with Map Share so far on my 720 and updating to the latest maps really hit home just how many fixes had been made. Unfortunately, since TomTom doesn't own TeleAtlas yet they can't put the fixes from Map Share in to the latest Teleatlas map. As a result, the latest Teleatlas map has only what they have fixed themselves but anything that was fixed by Map Share but not by Teleatlas won't show up. The new map I got has new roundabouts and roads but most of the blocked roads that TomTom had updated are back to being open again.

For those of you who have updated to new maps you should check anything you have reported using Map Share because you may have to report it again. Once TomTom takes over Teleatlas, Map Share can finally live up to its full potential. I just hope that happens sooner rather than later.

 

[jombi]

I guess I was under the assumption that MapShare was basically a seperate database, maintained by TT that acts almost as an overlay to the underlying TeleAtlas map.

So your saying that the changes have to go all the way back to TA and not just back to TT?