Nokia solicits bids for Here maps from Alibaba, Baidu
Finnish tech company Nokia is selling its maps unit Here and trying to solicit bids from IT giants including Apple, Alibaba and Amazon, reports Sina's tech news web portal.
According to Bloomberg's sources, Nokia also approached other potential bidders including Chinese leading search engine provider Baidu, the US satellite-radio provider Sirius XM and US audio equipment manufacturer Harman International Industries.
Nokia is seeking a bidding price of more than €3 billion (US$3.2 billion). The first round of bids are scheduled to take place at the end of next week.
German magazine Manager Magazin said on Wednesday April 22 that Facebook, US private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, and a consortium of German automakers including BMW, Audi and Daimler are also considering the proposition.
Nokia declined to comment on the reports.
On April 15, the Finnish company announced its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, the world's fourth largest telecom-equipment firm, aimed at securing a better position from which to compete with rivals Huawei and Ericsson.
Many companies have expressed interest in acquiring Nokia's map business to improve their own navigation software, which has become a standard function for smartphones, the report said.
According to Nokia's annual report, the revenues of Here maps unit last year were €970 million (US$1.5 billion) with operating losses of €1.2 billion (US$1.4 billion).