Tyre specialist Bridgestone acquires TomTom’s Telematics business, which is the European leader in digital fleet solutions. The takeover has a price tag of 910 million euros.
Thanks to the acquisition, Bridgestone claims to be taking a big step towards becoming a regional leader in the field of mobility solutions.
TomTom Telematics specialises in vehicle tracking systems, with which commercial fleets, lease companies or company fleets can organise their activities more efficiently. Today, the platform is used for 860,000 vehicles, two-thirds of which are commercial. More than 800 million GPS positions, 3.3 million trips and 200 million incoming messages are processed every day.
Win-win
The combined offering of both companies allows Bridgestone to sell its tyres and solutions to a larger customer base. In addition, the additional data it receives allows it to improve virtual tyre development and testing, as well as to focus on connected tyre innovation.
For its part, TomTom sees the opportunity to further streamline its activities. After a thorough evaluation of several strategic options, we concluded that the sale of TomTom Telematics to Bridgestone will benefit both Telematics and our core business in location technology, says Harold Goddijn, CEO of TomTom. We continue to invest in our innovative roadmaps and want to perform updates faster at lower operational costs, thereby paving the way for independent driving.
Stimulus
Bridgestone thinks it’s perfectly equipped to accelerate the Telematics business. We see and respect the talent and skills of the TomTom Telematics management team and its 670 employees. We want to stimulate and grow the company by continuing the current line. TomTom Telematics must continue to serve its customers as successfully as it has done in recent years and exploit the number one position in a fast-growing market, says Paolo Ferrari, CEO of Bridgestone EMEA.
The transaction will be completed by the second quarter of 2019 at the latest, subject to shareholder and supervisory support for the deal.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.