Nokia Buying Navteq for $8.1 Billion

Computer and mobile phone giant Nokia has agreed to buy Navteq Corp., a maker of maps used in transportation navigation, for $8.1 billion in cash, the companies said Monday.

Nokia will pay $78 a share, the companies said in a statement. The bid is 34% higher than Navteq’s share price of a month ago. Navteq’s stock closed at $77.97 a share on Friday, Bloomberg reported.

The purchase of Chicago-based Navteq, the world’s biggest maker of maps used in car-navigation equipment, would help Nokia add more features to its phones to attract customers, Bloomberg reported.

Christopher Galvin, the former chief executive officer of Motorola Inc., is Navteq’s chairman. He stepped down from Motorola, the biggest U.S. mobile-phone maker, in 2004 after a disagreement with the board on the company’s direction, Bloomberg said.

Navteq, which also owns Traffic.com, a Web and interactive service that provides traffic information and content to consumers, was founded in 1985. It generated revenue of $582 million last year and has about 3,000 employees in 30 countries.