Audi, BMW and Daimler are set to acquire Nokia’s Here mapping unit, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The publication is reporting that the three German automakers have agreed to pay $2.71 billion to take the division off of Nokia’s hands.
The report goes on to state that the three companies will invite other automakers to invest in the technology. “The goal has always been to run the service as an open platform for everyone,” says one of the WSJ’s unnamed sources.
Previously, it was rumoured that multiple tech companies, including Apple, Google and Uber, had expressed interest in Here. It appears part of the reason Audi, BMW and Daimler decided to purchase Here was to prevent it from falling into the hands of those companies.
Last week, Nokia sent out an invitation to several prominent tech outlets, asking them to attend an exclusive event in Los Angeles, California. The event invite included the phrases “Nowhere” and “Now Here”, prompting several people, including one of readers, to suggest that Nokia was preparing to announce something relating to its mapping division.
[source]Wall Street Journal[/source][via]ZDNet[/via]
