BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Apple: Will It Bid For TomTom?

This article is more than 10 years old.

Will Apple buy TomTom to fix what ails the company's iOS map application?

That would seem to be a pretty expensive fix; TomTom has a market cap of about 900 million Euros, or a little under $1.2 billion. Nonetheless, TomTom shares rallied 5.7% in trading in Amsterdam on Wednesday, in a move that Bloomberg says is due to speculation that Apple might in fact decide to buy TomTom, which makes GPS devices and provides the map data used in Apple's mapping app.

According to Bloomberg, Rabobank analyst Hans Slob asserted that there is a 30% chance that a deal between the two companies will happen.

“TomTom needs the cash from Apple, and Apple needs the know-how of TomTom,” Slob reportedly said.

One factoid which supports the theory is the fact that Apple has stacked up $83 billion in cash outside the U.S., which it can't use to buy back stock, pay dividends or to acquire U.S. companies without suffering a stiff income tax hit. An obvious alternative: buy non-U.S. companies. Like TomTom.