How TomTom Lost Its Way

For a few years in the 2000s, people didn’t say “satnav.”They said TomTom.The Dutch company became one of Europe’s biggest technology success stories, selling millions of little navigation boxes that stuck to windscreens and told drivers exactly where to go.Then, at the height of its success, TomTom made a huge bet.In 2007 it agreed to pay €2.9 billion for Tele Atlas — the company that made the digital maps inside its devices.Most of the money was borrowed.Within little more than a year, around 90% of TomTom’s stock market value had disappeared.But the strange part is that t...