A preliminary inquiry was conducted by antitrust regulators to Google Inc's recent purchase of online mapping service, Waze. This was according to one person with direct knowledge of the matter.The same source said that Google voluntarily complied with the inquiry by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) although it has not reached the level of an investigation.
Google purchased the Israel based Waze earlier this month. The deal was priced over US$1 billion in cash according to sources who told Reuters. The search engine giant was able to acquire Waze as its US revenue and assets were below the US$70.9 million threshold required for antitrust review. The deal was closed without US regulatory approval.
FTC and Google refused to comment with said report.
Waze has 47 million users but has its efforts to generate revenue from its service begun recently. Satellite signals from member's smartphones to generate traffic data and maps. After which it is shared with other users making it offer real time traffic info.
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