14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia is looking for buyers interested in acquiring its HERE maps business, but couldn't find anyone able to offer the amount of money it deserves.
There have been rumors claiming many companies already sent their biding offers, but Nokia hopes to get as much money as possible and turned all these bids down.
Since new broke about the possible sale of Nokia's HERE maps business, sources close to the matter indicated a value of around $2 billion that the Finnish company was hoping to receive from a biding offer.
Many companies like Uber, Alibaba, Apple, Facebook, and a German car consortium were among the bidders, but it looks like they didn't hit the right spot with their offers.
In the meantime, Nokia HERE's value soared to about $4 billion now, which is way above anything that the companies interested in this business are willing to offer.
But that's about to change, as Bloomberg reports Baidu and Uber have joined forces in order to bid for the majority stake in Nokia's HERE maps business.
Microsoft is also said to be interested in a minority stake, but so are no less than three US private-equity firms (Hellman & Friedman, Silver Lake Management and Thoma Bravo).
While Baidu and Uber will bid for the majority stake in HERE, the companies will face competition from another group comprising names like Tencent Holdings, NavInfo Co. and EQT Partners AB.
And let's not forget the German car consortium comprising companies like Audi, BMW and Daimler. As always, the highest bidder takes it all.
While negotiations are already underway, the next round of bids for Nokia's HERE maps business is due in about two weeks.
Since all the companies involved in the bidding declined any comments on the matter, it's impossible to confirm any of the information for the moment.
However, we will definitely know more about the new owner of Nokia's HERE maps business in less than two weeks.