Verizon Buys Big Into IoT With $2.4B Fleetmatics DealVerizon Buys Big Into IoT With $2.4B Fleetmatics Deal

Verizon is bolstering its profile in the fleet tracking business, buying Fleetmatics Group plc for $2.4 billion in an all-cash deal.

The deal -- at $60 per share -- is a nearly 40% premium over Fleetmatics' closing share price of $42.96 Friday. Dublin, Ireland-based Fleetmatics was founded in 2004 and has 1,200 employees, over 37,000 customers and approximately 737,000 subscribers. The company develops GPS location-based employee status, fuel and billing desktop and mobile software.

"Fleetmatics is a market leader in North America -- and increasingly internationally -- and they've developed a wide-range of compelling SaaS-based products and solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses," said Andrés Irlando, CEO of Verizon Telematics, of the deal.

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Although the connected car has caught the hype wave, Verizon has long been in the fleet management game. Verizon formed the Telematics unit in 2006 and grew it through the acquisition of Hughes Telematics in 2012. (See US Giants Carve Out Role in the Industrial IoT .)

Verizon says that it has also closed its acquisition of Telogis, which should further bolster its connected car business.

The Fleetmatics acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2016.

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading