Facebook, Waze at odds over liquidation
Social network giant insists on relocating some of Israeli navigation company's employees to its San Francisco headquarters, while Waze executives are adamant about leaving development center in Israel
Calcalist has learned that following two intensive weeks of talks, both parties remain unyielding. Facebook conditioned the deal on the liquidation of Waze's activity in Israel and the relocation of some of its employees to Facebook's San Francisco headquarters.
Waze founders Ehud Shabtai, Uri Levine and Amir Shinar, along with CEO Noam Bardin, are adamant about leaving the development center and its 100 employee in Israel.
Meanwhile, Waze shareholders are entangled in a dispute of their own: Foreign funds BlueRun Ventures (19%) and Horizons (11.6%) are pressing for the conclusion of the deal,
whereas Israeli Magma Fund (17.6%) and Microsoft (10.2%) are trying to arbitrate between the foreign funds and Waze management.
To date Facebook has acquired 36 companies around the world, all of which it liquidated and has part of the staff relocated to its own headquarters.
Waze currently has an $850 million price tag. However, in the event that Facebook relocates its employees, the price will increase to $1 billion.
This report was originally published in Hebrew by Calcalist
