The Netherlands: TomTom, a Dutch navigation device maker, expects more deals with car producers and will increase its workforce by about 14 percent next year as it seeks market share in Asia, according to Harold Goddijn, Chief Executive, TomTom.
Goddijn told daily newspaper De Financieele Telegraaf that the company’s workforce would grow to about 4,000 from 3,500 in 2011 as it looks to expand in India, China and Brazil as well as growing in Eastern Europe.
Goddijn said the company will employ an extra 150 people in India, where the firm thinks it can easily roll out its European and U.S. business model. The CEO added that although protecting TomTom’s software in China is “difficult,” the company simply had to have operations there.
The company said in November it had signed new deals for its automotive solutions business, announcing also it would start supplying hardware to Subaru cars in the United States and Goddijn told the newspaper the company expects to announce more deals in the coming period.
Goddijn reiterated comments from the company that it had no intention of selling map maker Tele Atlas, which it bought in 2008 for 2.9 billion euros, but later struggled to cope with its debt load.
Source: Reuters
