Waze is owned by Google LLC, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Google bought 100% of the Israeli navigation app in June 2013 and reported the price as $966 million in cash. Alphabet trades on Nasdaq and recorded a market capitalisation of $4.21 trillion on August 19, 2026.
Waze ownership at a glance
Waze has no shareholders of its own. Every figure below that carries a valuation refers to Alphabet, because Google does not report Waze revenue, headcount or user economics as a separate line.
| Ownership type | Wholly owned subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Google LLC, under Alphabet Inc. |
| Largest shareholders | Google holds 100%; Alphabet’s own largest holders are Vanguard (about 7%) and BlackRock (about 6.2%) |
| Latest valuation or market cap | Not disclosed for Waze; Alphabet at $4.21 trillion on August 19, 2026 |
| Last funding round or acquisition | Acquired by Google, June 11, 2013, for $966 million |
| Founded | 2006 as FreeMap Israel; incorporated as Waze in 2008 |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| CEO | None. Waze reports to Christopher Phillips, VP and GM of Google Geo |
Who owns Waze today?
Google holds all of the equity. There are no minority investors, no public shares and no separate employee equity pool tied to Waze.
Ehud Shabtai started the mapping project in 2006 and founded the company with Uri Levine and Amir Shinar in 2008. Noam Bardin joined as chief executive in 2009 and led the sale to Google, though he was not a founder.
The three venture rounds raised before the sale were cashed out in full at closing. The US Federal Trade Commission asked Google for more information on the deal in 2013 and cleared it without conditions.
In December 2022 Alphabet moved Waze into Google Geo, the group that runs Maps, Earth and Street View. Chief executive Neha Parikh left after that reorganisation and the title has not been filled since. Google cut Waze advertising sales, marketing and analytics roles in June 2023 as the app’s ad system moved onto Google’s own engine.
Who owns Google, the parent company of Waze?
Alphabet Inc. was created in October 2015 as Google’s holding company. It is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Alphabet has three share classes. Class A carries one vote, Class C carries none, and Class B carries ten votes and is not publicly traded.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin hold the Class B stock. Alphabet’s April 2026 proxy statement put Page at 27.4% of total voting power and Brin at 25.3%, a combined 52.7% majority. Pinterest runs a comparable dual-class arrangement, with founder shares carrying extra votes.
Sundar Pichai is chief executive of Alphabet and Google. John Hennessy chairs the board.
Alphabet voting power, April 2026 proxy statement
What else does Google own besides Waze?
Google closed its $32 billion all-cash purchase of cloud security firm Wiz on March 11, 2026, the largest acquisition in its history.
Earlier deals include YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006, Android in 2005, Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2012 (sold to Lenovo in 2014), DeepMind in 2014, Fitbit for $2.1 billion in 2021 and Mandiant for $5.4 billion in 2022.
Alphabet also owns Waymo, Verily and Calico, which sit outside Google and report separately as Other Bets. Google’s own products span Search, Chrome, Cloud, Android, YouTube and Gemini. Our breakdown of Gemini against ChatGPT and Claude covers where the assistant stands on revenue and users.
Inside Google, Waze sits in the Geo portfolio alongside Maps, Earth and Street View, and shares one management chain with them.
Who are the biggest investors in Waze?
Nobody invests in Waze directly. Ownership passes entirely through Alphabet stock, so the biggest holders are Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street and Fidelity on the institutional side, plus Page and Brin as individuals.
Before the sale, Waze raised roughly $67 million across three rounds:
- Series A, $12 million, March 2008, from BlueRun Ventures and Magma Venture Partners
- Series B, $25 million, December 2010, from Qualcomm Ventures, Vertex Venture Capital, BlueRun and Magma, at a reported $95 million valuation
- Series C, $30 million, October 2011, from Horizons Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, at a reported $200 million valuation
All of these firms exited in June 2013. That differs from the layered cap tables common in private technology today, such as the one behind OpenAI’s ownership structure, where early backers still hold positions years later.
Is Waze publicly traded?
No. Waze has no ticker and no listing of its own.
The only way to hold a claim on it is through Alphabet, which trades as GOOGL and GOOG on Nasdaq. Alphabet has not discussed spinning Waze out or listing it separately.
Waze itself said in June 2013 that it picked acquisition over an initial public offering. Companies still weighing that choice appear in our tracker of pending technology listings.
FAQ
Who founded Waze?
Ehud Shabtai, Uri Levine and Amir Shinar founded Waze in Israel. Shabtai began the underlying project, FreeMap Israel, in 2006. Noam Bardin became chief executive in 2009 but was not a founder.
How much did Google pay for Waze?
Google disclosed $966 million in total cash consideration in its Q2 2013 quarterly filing. Press reports at the time put the figure between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion, based on unnamed sources.
Did Facebook or Apple ever own Waze?
No. Both were reported as interested bidders in 2013, and Facebook withdrew during due diligence. Google was the only company to complete a purchase, closing the deal on June 11, 2013.
Does Waze still have its own CEO?
No. Neha Parikh was the last person to hold the title and left after the December 2022 reorganisation. Waze now reports to Christopher Phillips, vice president and general manager of Google Geo.
Is Waze the same app as Google Maps?
No. Both are owned by Google and managed by the same Geo division, but they remain separate apps with separate interfaces. Waze routes drivers using reports submitted by its own user community.
