The American computer company Intel announced it would purchase Israel’s driverless technology firm Mobileye for 15.3 billion dollars, positioning itself for a dominant role in the autonomous-driving sector. The 63.54 dollars per share cash-deal, is the biggest technology takeover in Israel’s history and the largest purchase of a company solely focused on the self- driving sector. Intel will integrate its automated driving group with Mobileye’s operations, with the combined entity being run by Mobileye Chairman Amnon Shashua from Israel.
“That is a vote of confidence for the Israeli tech industry, for a bit less than $15 billion, that is by far the biggest deal for the Israeli Tech industry. Just a few years ago when Google bought Waze for a bit more than a billion dollars, that was a huge news here in Israel, but now for $15 billion? That is very big news and very big success for Israel,” said Israeli Fischer, Global Economy Correspondent – Marker Daily.
Mobileye accounts for 70 percent of the global market for driver-assistance and anti-collision systems. It employs 660 people and had adjusted net income of 173.3 $ million last year. Intel said it expected the transaction to close within the next nine months and to immediately boost its non-GAAP earnings per share and free cash flow.