Nokia has announced that it has sold its mapping business HERE to German car consortium comprising of Audi, BMW and Daimler for 2.8 billion Euro ($3 billion). The Finnish company was looking to sell HERE to focus on the integration of Alcatel-Lucent, which it acquired for $16.6 billion earlier this year.
HERE's high-definition real-time digital mapping technology gives the aforementioned car makers the ability to further their research on self-driving cars, and integrate connected services into their next-generation vehicles. The deal is estimated to close in the first half of 2016, with Nokia netting 2.5 billion Euro ($2.74 billion) from the proceeds.
With the sale of HERE, Nokia will function as two business entities: Nokia Networks, which provides network and telecom infrastructure; and Nokia Technologies, which will continue to develop technology products such as the recently announced virtual reality camera OZO.
Source: Nokia
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