Israel Matzav

Israel's poor benefit from Google's acquisition of Waze

The benefits from Google's acquisition of Waze aren't just going to Waze's shareholders. Or rather, Waze's shareholders may include some people you didn't expect. Through a charity that asks early-stage companies to contribute shares, many of Israel's poor will benefit from the Waze acquisition.

Waze contributed options to Tmura, an Israeli public service venture that receives grants of stock from companies and uses the proceeds from successful “exits” – a public offering, acquisition or sale of shares on the market – to fund charities for education and youth-related causes in Israel. In 2011, Tmura cashed out of its Waze options to the tune of $1.385 million.

“We are excited by this opportunity to make a real difference in the community,” said Waze CEO Noam Bardin. “Tmura’s model enabled us to involve Waze employees in the allocation process and this has truly been an inspiring experience for the entire company.”

Amos Gaver, chairman of Tmura’s Grants Committee, was equally as ecstatic. “Non-profits are continually faced with fundraising challenges, making it difficult to plan from year to year,” he said. “With these grants, we hope to alleviate at least some of this burden and help these organizations with their planning for the coming years.”

Tmura says that it will allocate the money to five separate charities chosen in cooperation with Waze. They are: Chinuch L’Psagot, Israeli Rett Syndrome Foundation, Knafayim Shel Krembo, Tel Aviv Sexual Assault Crisis Center, and Tzeva.

 Maybe they should have held on longer.

Labels: charity, Israeli high tech

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:42 AM