Michelin has acquired Masternaut, a fleet management service provider, in its third such deal in the past five years. A couple of months ago, Bridgestone, another slinger of car shoes, and a major Michelin rival, bought TomTom’s telematics assets, and now we’re wondering if the future of many fleet management tools is simply to be bought to provide value-add services for automotive consumables vendors. The Michelin deal does not have a price tag attached to it, but it could be quite pricey, given that Bridgestone paid $1.03bn for TomTom’s telematics wing. However, we have seen many deals in the tens-of-millions of dollars range – pocket change for Michelin (€19.3bn market cap) and Bridgestone ($28.4bn). However, the ability to better market…