PORTLAND, Maine — GPS giant Garmin closed its purchase of the Yarmouth-based mapmaker and satellite mapping company DeLorme, which produces the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer.
Garmin, with U.S. headquarters in Kansas, announced Thursday that it closed the deal for an undisclosed price. Garmin announced the sale agreement Feb. 11, saying it was most interested in DeLorme’s satellite mapping and communications products, like its inReach products.
The new owner plans to keep on most of the employees in Yarmouth, which it plans to operate as a research and development office for two-way satellite communications and other cartography products.
The company closed its map store last week, as part of the acquisition, which a company spokeswoman in February said would mean a “small number” of layoffs.
In announcing the purchase, a Garmin spokesman said the fate of DeLorme’s printed maps hadn’t been decided. A company spokeswoman said sales of its atlases had fallen off through the early 2000s but leveled off in recent years.
DeLorme employs 92 people full time, six of whom work from other parts of the country.