Microsoft Acquires Multimap

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

Sanchez offers up big money to buy out Multimap

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