The news this morning out of the UK is that Microsoft has agreed to buy Multimap for approximately 50 million $50M (updated from earlier number).
Multimap owns a maps website aimed at consumers that attracted more than 4 million unique users in the UK last month, according to Nielsen NetRatings, the market researchers.
The figures place the site second in the field in the UK ‘ sandwiched between the market leading Google Maps, which attracted about 11 million users, and the third-placed Google Earth. Microsoft’s current mapping effort, Live Search Maps, languished in a distant fifth place, with about 868,000 users.
I’m not sure what this will mean for developers, but it is probably a really great move for Microsoft competing against the Google.
Multimap will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft as part of the Online Services Groups and the Microsoft Virtual Earth and Search teams.
Sanchez offers up big money to buy out Multimap