BlackBerry Will Sell Itself For $4.7 Billion

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BlackBerry Will Sell Itself For $4.7 Billion

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Monday September 23, 2013 @06:14AM from the circle-of-business dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "A consortium led by financial-holding company Fairfax Financial has agreed to acquire BlackBerry for $4.7 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Fairfax Financial will acquire every BlackBerry stock-share it doesn't already own. Further details are pending, including future management structure and whether BlackBerry will continue with its stated intent to lay off thousands of employees over the next few months. 'The Special Committee is seeking the best available outcome for the Company's constituents, including for shareholders,' Barbara Stymiest, chair of BlackBerry's Board of Directors, wrote in a statement. 'Importantly, the go-shop process provides an opportunity to determine if there are alternatives superior to the present proposal from the Fairfax consortium.' A special committee formed by BlackBerry's Board of Directors had spent the past few weeks looking for a potential acquirer. BlackBerry has seen its market-share crumble as businesses and consumers embrace rivals such as Apple's iPhone and Google Android devices."

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I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-23 06:15 · Score: 1, Funny

If only I could.
1. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by jellomizer · 2013-09-23 06:29 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Checking last years balance sheet 4.7 billion is about how much RIM has in owned property.
  
  --
  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
2. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by McGruber · 2013-09-23 07:14 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Checking last years balance sheet 4.7 billion is about how much RIM has in owned property.
  Does that $4.7 billion balance sheet include the $1 billion worth of unsold phones that Blackberry is stuck with?
  (As reported in the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323308504579087471781835480.html)
3. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-09-23 08:14 · Score: 1
  
  Does that $4.7 billion balance sheet include the $1 billion worth of unsold phones that Blackberry is stuck with?
  Is that $1B MSRP or $1B in cost? If it's $1B in cost, they can release their Android port (CM preferably), put an unlocked bootloader on it, and offer them for sale at cost, and they will sell out and recover their $1B.
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
4. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by jratcliffe · 2013-09-23 08:39 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Looking at the balance sheet, there's about $2.8BN in cash, $900MM in inventory (figure that's basically zero now), and payables exceed receivables by about $1BN, so you're looking at a liquidation value of around $2BN. There's $2.2BN in property/plant/equipment, but it's highly unlikely you could actually get $2.2BN for that.
5. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by spasm · 2013-09-23 09:39 · Score: 1
  
  That's a liability not an asset - disposing of ewaste is expensive.
6. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by Grishnakh · 2013-09-23 11:05 · Score: 2
  
  Huh? It really shouldn't take 3 years to develop an Android port. Android is already out there and available, and better yet you can use the CyanogenMod version which is also freely available. The only thing that'd be a problem is getting all the drivers for the hardware, but how much of the hardware is different from other phones and doesn't already have Android drivers available from the silicon mfgrs? If they got serious about it, and hired some consultants with Android expertise, they really should be able to get something ready within 3 months.
7. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by jbolden · 2013-09-23 13:49 · Score: 2
  
  Android apps run on BB phones. Why bother with a port which amounts to a downgrade? Who would want a Z10 with Android that doesn't want a Z10 with BB10?
8. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by davester666 · 2013-09-23 17:31 · Score: 1
  
  Who wants to run almost Android apps [as I believe you need to actually make some changes for it to work, you can't just download an app off GooglePlay and side-load it on a BB] on an OS with a completely different UI/navigation system.
  
  --
  Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
9. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by Pieroxy · 2013-09-23 19:47 · Score: 1
  
  ...but with the 10.2 OS coming..
  Haven't you heard the news? RIM is dead. There is most likely no version 10.2 coming at all. Actually, there is most likely nothing coming anymore ever.
  
  --
  Write boring code, not shiny code!
10. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by jimicus · 2013-09-23 21:09 · Score: 1
  
  Two words for you: Patent portfolio.
11. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by jbolden · 2013-09-24 01:00 · Score: 1
  
  Nope you can load apps however you want. BB has an Android runtime system.
12. Re:I would sell myself for $4.7 billion. by jbolden · 2013-09-24 01:10 · Score: 1
  
  It has the Android UI for application support.
What took you so long? by Nick · 2013-09-23 06:17 · Score: 1

I wonder how long they really were shopping it around.

--
Fuck Ajit Pai
Layoffs? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-23 06:18 · Score: 1, Funny

Layoffs? So thousands of RIM jobs are at stake?
1. Re:Layoffs? by Kielistic · 2013-09-23 06:26 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Sigh. Not only did that joke stop being funny years ago (if it ever was funny) but RIM is no longer in their name anyway.
2. Re:Layoffs? by Kielistic · 2013-09-23 07:49 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I'm sorry if I insulted your joke but you really should know that equating jobs at BlackBerry with "RIMjobs" isn't funny. Repeating a joke that is made at least 5 times in every thread about BlackBerry (and even more often when they were still called RIM) is not clever or funny. It is trite and lame. You do not have to resort to trying to insult me. Or propositioning me? I don't know- it wasn't very clear.
3. Re:Layoffs? by hairyfeet · 2013-09-23 08:17 · Score: 2
  
  What effects? BB has been dead for awhile, its been a zombie with a billion phones they can't sell and an OS nobody wants. Most likely these vultures will sell off the assets and keep the IP for some major trolling.
  The only ones I feel sorry for is the folks on the lines, the smart ones that had skills that would translate have moved on, all that is left is the poor slobs that couldn't find other employment and in this economy? Well let us hope the evil tea party elitists don't kill foodstamps otherwise many of them will end up going hungry.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
4. Re:Layoffs? by Kielistic · 2013-09-23 08:26 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  What are you talking about? First of all BlackBerry is a Canadian company so your spiel about the tea party and foodstamps is more trite garbage.
  They still have a large workforce, tonnes of patents and their own OS ecosystem. There interesting things to be discussed other than lame jokes. I know Slashdot has made lame and tired jokes into an art-form but it would be nice if it didn't fully take the place of real discussion.
5. Re:Layoffs? by Sir_Eptishous · 2013-09-23 09:55 · Score: 1
  
  It's still funny.
  Deal with it.
  
  --
  We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
6. Re:Layoffs? by Grishnakh · 2013-09-23 11:08 · Score: 2
  
  The OS ecosystem is completely worthless; remember, the reason they're failing is because no one wants their OS, they want iOS or Android (or in rare cases, WinPhone). The only things they have that are worth anything are 1) their workforce, which isn't worth much since they're experts in a dead OS, but their hardware design teams might be valuable and maybe the software teams can be retrained for Android, and 2) their patents.
7. Re:Layoffs? by Kielistic · 2013-09-23 12:28 · Score: 1
  
  From what I can see their market share only just fell below Windows Phone in Q2-2013 and even then just barely. So although still bad not quite as awful as you paint it.
  
  1) their workforce, which isn't worth much since they're experts in a dead OS
  I know right? All of those people that worked on the now dead Palm WebOS were useless afterwards and never went on to do anything successful... The people that wrote NextStep too. Nothing good came out of that.
  One of the nice things about software development (or indeed most anything) is all the things you learn at one job make you more prepared for any subsequent job.
  
  2) their patents.
  Which seems to be a favourite topic here at Slashdot.
  Obviously it is something worth discussing or it wouldn't be here with a bunch of people discussing it. Unless Dice really has decided Slashdot is worth nothing more than lame, overplayed sex jokes.
8. Re:Layoffs? by Grishnakh · 2013-09-23 13:27 · Score: 1
  
  IIRC, all those WebOS developers had to go find new jobs. Yes, their skills transferred without too much trouble and I'm sure they were able to learn new OSes without much trouble, but when you're talking about companies buying intact teams, they don't care much about that. They only care if they have an intact team ready to go right away on some project they're interested in; they're not interested in retraining employees. No one does that any more these days.
9. Re:Layoffs? by Kielistic · 2013-09-23 13:58 · Score: 1
  
  Why does somebody have to hire an entire team (I'm sure there are some BB10 teams Apple or Google would be interested in though). Whether those teams go to a new company together, apart or stay where they are is definitely a topic of discussion. No matter how you spin it there is a talented pool of devs whose jobs are a little in the air right now. Where might they go? How might they go? Who would benefit?
  The reason I mentioned WebOS was because of this man: Matias Duarte. He left Palm after its acquisition to become a major and positive contribution to Android.
10. Re:Layoffs? by rtb61 · 2013-09-23 16:32 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder how much the top executives and the board paid themselves and how much in luxuries the spent on themselves in total, while they were so busily losing a billion dollars, here's betting it was way over a billion dollars so yeah the unsuspecting investors got a screwed without getting the rim@%#. Watch the golden parachutes opening up all over place except of course for the people who actually did the work.
  
  --
  Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
11. Re:Layoffs? by davester666 · 2013-09-23 17:37 · Score: 1
  
  Except their sales are primarily phones running the older BB 7.x, on old hardware, in developing nations.
  The new stuff landed with a giant thud earlier this year, hence the writeoffs and layoffs, excluding the hardcore BB keyboard fans that were desperate for anything new and jumped on the new phones. But that was only a couple of hundred sales.
  
  --
  Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
12. Re:Layoffs? by Grishnakh · 2013-09-24 01:30 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not really talking about an outside company hiring a BB team; I'm talking about some company buying BB, and what the intact teams of existing employees would be worth to that company. When one company buys another, generally one of the "assets" is the existing base of employees. Suppose, for instance, I wanted to have a company making Android phones. I could either form my own new company and try to hire employees with expertise in that, or I could just amass a little cash and buy out HTC. With the latter, I don't need to find new employees, I already have a bunch of them assembled into teams and a whole company, already knowledgeable and experienced in the thing I'm wanting to do: build Android phones. If I took that money and bought Blackberry instead, it wouldn't be the same; they have expertise making phones, but not Android phones, and instead their own crappy proprietary OS, so it wouldn't be quite as easy for me to start making Android phones by buying up Blackberry as if I bought up HTC, since HTC already is in the business of making Android phones.
  I think whoever buys up Blackberry is probably going to just break the company apart, use the non-human assets (patents mainly) for their own purposes, and most of the employees will be sent on their way.
Consortium by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-23 06:22 · Score: 5, Interesting

What I am most curious about is who is part of that consortium. That will be the most telling about the future of BlackBerry.
My guess is a collection of tech companies that want to keep BlackBerry's patents out of the hands of a patent troll and thus the company will be closed down, sold off in parts, and otherwise officially killed and the patents will be shared among the consortium companies and kept safe. Because, let's be honest - BlackBerry is dead - there is nothing else of significant value remaining in the company.
RIM (and Nokia) made the biggest mistake possible by ignoring the iPhone and what it represented to the entire mobile industry. Their complacency killed the company. They changed far too little, faaaaaar too late.
(Ironically, my captcha was "overtake"...)
1. Re:Consortium by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · 2013-09-23 06:33 · Score: 2
  
  Bingo. When I read the headline, I said "4.7 BILLION??? That's crazy!!" - but for an Apple, a Microsoft, a Google, a portion of that $4.7B is cheap insurance to keep those BlackBerry patents off the street and in the hands of other Mutual Assured Destruction patent players.
2. Re:Consortium by Target+Drone · 2013-09-23 07:18 · Score: 2
  
  What I am most curious about is who is part of that consortium.
  According to this it's Bank of America Merrill Lynch and BMO Capital Markets. It's telling how little the commpany is being sold for. The company is basically being sold for the value of it's current assets ($2.6 billion in cash reserves, patent portfolio, software, etc.). Seems like the buyer has no intention to turn the company around and get profits out in the future.
3. Re:Consortium by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-09-23 08:11 · Score: 1
  
  RIM (and Nokia) made the biggest mistake possible by ignoring the iPhone and what it represented to the entire mobile industry. Their complacency killed the company. They changed far too little, faaaaaar too late.
  It's hubris. In their book The Innovator's Solution, the authors describe the problem with Blackberry and outline the iPhone strategy as the way to solve it. It's literally the textbook example and they ignored it.
  But I think Steve Jobs read it - "great artists steal".
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
4. Re:Consortium by yankeessuck · 2013-09-23 08:20 · Score: 1
  
  Probably a couple of Canadian pension funds according to the WSJ. That combination would be plenty to fund this small of a deal. They don't need to bring in tech companies unless someone overpays to lock up assets and avoid a bidding war on the open market. Thinking ahead a little, patents and real assets are pretty obvious but the brand could be interesting. A Chinese OEM might think big and buy the brand (sort of like Lenovo and IBM). Maybe a little crazier, BB might be trying to force the hand of a potential white knight but there's not a whole lot of value for a strategic buyer when they can just bid on the parts without inheriting the rest of the crap.
5. Re:Consortium by chargersfan420 · 2013-09-23 13:37 · Score: 1
  
  Sounds about right. The responsible bankers we all know and love, lending out money to buy Blackberry.
  
  Keep up the good work, bankers!
6. Re:Consortium by TechyImmigrant · 2013-09-23 14:18 · Score: 1
  
  RIM/Blackberry purchased Certicom. So they have all the Certicom patents on elliptic curve encryption.
  But now the NSA leaks have led people to believe that the NSA may have broken ECC. So the value of all those patents just went to $0 since if no one is going to trust ECC to be secure, no one is going to use it. Another own goal.
  
  --
  I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
7. Re:Consortium by felipekk · 2013-09-23 20:44 · Score: 1
  
  BlackBerry is dead - there is nothing else of significant value remaining in the company.
  I've been out of the IT industry for a while, but is there any product that works like BlackBerry's Enterprise Serve (suite) for Android / iPhone / Windows Phone?
  I remember reading a couple of years back that RIM had purchased a company that was developing software like that for Android / iPhone.
  It's been five years but I remember that BES, even though it was a pain to install, worked like a charm for the Enterprise.
8. Re:Consortium by jimicus · 2013-09-23 21:22 · Score: 1
  
  RIM (and Nokia) made the biggest mistake possible by ignoring the iPhone and what it represented to the entire mobile industry. Their complacency killed the company.
  
  I'd agree that complacency killed the company - but I'd disagree that "ignoring the iPhone" was the issue.
  I'd say that "ignoring Exchange ActiveSync" was the issue. A cursory glance at Exchange ActiveSync would have told anyone who cared to look that here is a feature that is aimed squarely at replacing BES/Blackberry with EAS/(insert non-blackberry phone here). With the added bonus that as it's integrated with Exchange, there's no need to buy, install and manage a third-party product.
  Yeah, OK, EAS may not be as sophisticated in terms of setting up device policies as BES, but the number of organisations that care about all those fancy "Look, gran!" features could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
  From that point, it was only ever a matter of time before a phone manufacturer built a phone that integrated with EAS and didn't suck. Did RIM look at this and take account of it? Did they hell.
9. Re:Consortium by acoustix · 2013-09-24 03:09 · Score: 1
  
  I've been out of the IT industry for a while, but is there any product that works like BlackBerry's Enterprise Serve (suite) for Android / iPhone / Windows Phone?
  No and it is sad. There's nothing out there that comes even close to BES. Policy management on iOS, Android and Windows Phone is a joke. I struggle to keep my company's information private, but it's impossible. Once an iOS or Android phone has access to my company's ActiveSync then my company has no control over how that data is handled.
  We're currently trying to use XenMobile, but it doesn't work either. I try to block access to iCloud. But then the employees can't backup their personal data. Very frustrating!
  If someone has an alternative to BES then please speak up.
  
  --
  "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
10. Re:Consortium by felipekk · 2013-09-24 07:41 · Score: 1
  
  Then I guess BlackBerry still has a viable product in their hands.
Prediction: by dudeman2 · 2013-09-23 06:26 · Score: 3, Interesting

In 2 years time, watch for this news headline:
"Fairfax Financial announces a $4.6 billion writedown on the value of their BlackBerry acquisition. Layoffs are proceeding. Fairfax Financial has announced plans to sell off all corporate assets including BlackBerry's patent portfolio. A buyer has not been identified at this time."
1. Re:Prediction: by PoliTech · 2013-09-23 06:34 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Not to argue, but in a few weeks time I expect something more along the lines of this: "From the desk of S. Balmer: We announced some exciting news today: We have entered into an agreement to purchase Fairfax Financial’s BlackBerry Devices & Services business, which includes their smartphone and mobile phone businesses, their award-winning design team, manufacturing and assembly facilities in Canada, and teams devoted to operations, sales, marketing and support." If MS isn't doing this they are nuts (a possibility to be sure). Adding a BlackBerry acquisition to the Nokia deal would get MS to nearly 20 percent of the smartphone market.
2. Re:Prediction: by M1FCJ · 2013-09-23 06:53 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Add two single-digit numbers, larger than 7 and you will get a value nearer to 20 than 10.
  I don't think maths need explaining more than this.
3. Re:Prediction: by ebno-10db · 2013-09-23 07:03 · Score: 1
  
  By buying Blackberry, Microsoft will be able to drive an even larger portion of the smartphone market into the ground.
4. Re:Prediction: by whoever57 · 2013-09-23 07:03 · Score: 2
  
  I expect something more on the lines of: "In order to protect our smartphone business, we have purchased a number of patents from Fairfax .... . The terms of the deal include a limited license back of the patents"
  
  --
  The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
5. Re:Prediction: by Ravaldy · 2013-09-23 07:21 · Score: 1
  
  Actually their share of the market is currently increasing. They have more than doubled their presence in that market in the last 12 months. Although I don't see how buying RIM would help them at this point.
6. Re:Prediction: by McGruber · 2013-09-23 07:25 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  In 2 years time, watch for this news headline:
  "Fairfax Financial announces a $4.6 billion writedown on the value of their BlackBerry acquisition. Layoffs are proceeding. Fairfax Financial has announced plans to sell off all corporate assets including BlackBerry's patent portfolio. A buyer has not been identified at this time."
  The problem with this scenario is that Fairfax's Chairman and CEO Prem Watsa, who controls half of its stock. Watsa is a self-made man; he graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1972, then migrated to Canada.
  People who know a lot more about investing than I do refer to Mr. Watsa as the Canadian Warren Buffet.
7. Re:Prediction: by Desler · 2013-09-23 07:26 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, "more than doubled" to 3.3%!!!
  
  In the smartphone operating system (OS) market (see Table 2), Microsoft took over BlackBerry for the first time, taking the No. 3 spot with 3.3 percent market share in the second quarter of 2013. “While Microsoft has managed to increase share and volume in the quarter, Microsoft should continue to focus on growing interest from app developers to help grow its appeal among users,” said Mr. Gupta. Android continued to increase its lead, garnering 79 percent of the market in the second quarter.
  
  OMG!!!!
8. Re:Prediction: by PoliTech · 2013-09-23 07:50 · Score: 2
  
  Nokia Q2 2013 mobile market share was a bit over 14%. Symbian numbers count too, because the not-as-smart-as-a-smartphone phone business was part of the MS/Nokia deal.
9. Re:Prediction: by Desler · 2013-09-23 07:58 · Score: 1
  
  Nokia Q2 2013 mobile market share was a bit over 14%.
  Wrong. Android and iOS have 93.2% of the global market share.
10. Re:Prediction: by PoliTech · 2013-09-23 08:01 · Score: 1
  
  "@Ravaldy; Although I don't see how buying RIM would help them at this point."
  RIM is still a (albeit shrinking) player in the enterprise. I think a possible MS acquisition (or as others have suggested, a Blackberry "Patent buy") could go a long way toward enhancing the attraction of the Win mobile phone environment to enterprise IT.
11. Re:Prediction: by PoliTech · 2013-09-23 08:02 · Score: 2
  
  Scroll down the page to the Mobile Phone numbers.
12. Re:Prediction: by ColdWetDog · 2013-09-23 08:23 · Score: 1
  
  Or maybe they are just going to concatenate the numbers:
  2 + 2 = 4 but
  2 ++ 2 = 22 much better.
  Now show this to an MBA and see which one they'll go for.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
13. Re:Prediction: by intermodal · 2013-09-23 08:33 · Score: 1
  
  I don't share your optimism that the newly-purchased business unit will last 2 more years.
  
  --
  In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
14. Re:Prediction: by hairyfeet · 2013-09-23 08:39 · Score: 1
  
  And the reason why is obvious, instead of listening the started dictating to customers so that for every one they get they lose a dozen.
  Look at me as an example, as somebody who has used and sold Windows systems since the days of 3.x I would be a prime candidate for a WinPhone, what did I get? an Android. Why? Because after the "just deal with it" bad attitude of their games division, the flipping the bird to desktop users AND refusing to port WinPhone 8 to WinPhone 7 buyers, thus leaving them with a worthless device? I'm sorry but I don't trust them not to throw me by the wayside when winPhone 9 comes out. at least with Android i can easily load a ROM myself instead of depending on the carrier or MSFT to support me.
  So while they have been going up in certain markets I bet if one did the math they are product dumping to gain share but even MSFT can't afford to dump below cost forever and the bad will they keep generating is turning off more and more folks.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
15. Re:Prediction: by dudeman2 · 2013-09-23 09:28 · Score: 1
  
  Watsa may know a lot about investing, and I'm sure he has plans for the company, but I sincerely hope that restoring BlackBerry's former image/reputation/market share are not on his list. It can't be done, and you can quote me on that. Corporations are moving to BYOD on iPhone/Android, and the non-corporate market is completely lost to BlackBerry. How is Watsa going to make a profit on his investment? Selling off the corporate assets piecemeal, or selling the whole thing to a Greater Fool (sure, Ballmer would qualify..) or who knows. It'll be interesting to watch.
16. Re:Prediction: by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-23 09:51 · Score: 1
  
  The global smartphone share isnt close to that high.
17. Re:Prediction: by msmonroe · 2013-09-23 10:16 · Score: 1
  
  You're probably right. This is a sad day, I never thought I would see this happen. This is what happens when you lose vision. They're biggest assets is probably the patents. Sounds like someones going patent trolling.. They can probably sue they're way to riches.
18. Re:Prediction: by McGruber · 2013-09-23 10:21 · Score: 1
  
  Corporations are moving to BYOD on iPhone/Android, and the non-corporate market is completely lost to BlackBerry. How is Watsa going to make a profit on his investment?
  The three leading smartphone options (Android, Apple and Microsoft/Nokia) are all controlled by US companies.
  Going forward, I think many corporate and government purchasers are going to see a lot of value in standardizing on smartphones from a non-US company given all of the recent NSA revelations.
19. Re:Prediction: by casab1anca · 2013-09-23 15:14 · Score: 1
  
  Some simple math based on the numbers in your link:
  
  Android market share went from 64.2% to 79%, that's a 23% increase since last year.
  iOS went from 18.8% to 14.2%, that's a 24% decline.
  Windows Phone went from 2.7% to 3.3%, that's a 27% increase.
  
  Also keep in mind that WP is the newest of the 3 platforms and still has room to grow while the others are pretty much saturated at this point (or have already started declining as is the case with iOS).
20. Re:Prediction: by Xest · 2013-09-23 21:11 · Score: 1
  
  Blackberry's strength was always in the enterprise. There are still thousands of massive organisations to this day using Blackberry devices.
  You're right that the BYOD trend is eating into this but I don't think it's as widespread as you believe - a lot of employees explicitly want a separate work device if not only so they can turn it off when they get home and not have to deal with work in their own time.
  But ignoring all that there's no reason Blackberry couldn't move into providing enterprise solutions on iOS/Android keeping it's server products (which are a decent profit centre) relevant. This means even in a fully BYOD world where every company does this they'd all still be linked back to HQ via Blackberry's solutions.
  So yes it can still be relevant, it just needs to change to a software and services company. This doesn't mean it couldn't still produce some phones - if it kept to a niche of providing secure solid phones for companies that want devices that are sturdy and secure then it could still do well at that.
  If Watsa gets this then he'll do just fine on his investment. Trying to compete with Android and iOS in the consumer market is the wrong path for Blackberry, consumer isn't their strength, business is.
21. Re:Prediction: by jimicus · 2013-09-23 21:24 · Score: 1
  
  Doubt it.
  I'm offering evens that this purchase has just one plan in mind: Asset-strip the company.
22. Re:Prediction: by Ravaldy · 2013-09-25 05:39 · Score: 1
  
  OMG!! is right. They are increasing their market share contrary to what everybody on /. has been saying for the last 6 months.
23. Re:Prediction: by Ravaldy · 2013-09-25 05:44 · Score: 1
  
  The device is still supported but doesn't support the new OS. I don't see a difference with Android. On the other hand iOS keeps providing OS updates to all versions of their phone and let me tell you it's just incentive to upgrade your hardware because it usually wrecks the experience (it did in my case and many other users I know).
  Your opinion is only based on your tech savy usage of the device. 95% of users can't update their Android OS if it's not automatically done.
24. Re:Prediction: by hairyfeet · 2013-09-26 14:54 · Score: 1
  
  Uhhh...I live in a SMALL town and there is already 4 different shops that offer upgrading android phones as a service. Remember the creed of the small business "if somebody needs it done somebody is willing to do it for a price" and this is a small town, in any large city you could probably have 2 dozen shops to choose from.
  That doesn't change the fact that MSFT gave early adopters the finger so now I wouldn't give them even $20 for a WinPhone. With Android i can go with AreaRomQ, Cyanogen, or at least 2 others that I have found for my Android phone and mine isn't even a very popular model, if I had a big name like a Hero or Galaxy I could have even more choices.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
25. Re:Prediction: by Ravaldy · 2013-09-30 05:49 · Score: 1
  
  You know the Windows Phone hardware supports all those other choices too right?
What? by Sable+Drakon · 2013-09-23 06:28 · Score: 1

I'm kinda surprised that there's anyone that actually wants to buy RIM.

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The Amarri pray for god, the Caldari pray for profit. the Gallente pray for peace, but the Minmatar pray their ships hol
1. Re:What? by jeffmflanagan · 2013-09-23 06:34 · Score: 1
  
  They're not RIM anymore, and the purchase price seems to match the valuation of their assets. I'm as surprised by this as you are.
2. Re:What? by SecurityTheatre · 2013-09-23 06:42 · Score: 2
  
  They own several billion in buildings, patents, factories, etc.
  Even if they liquidate tomorrow, they don't lose that much.
  Plus, Blackberry actually owns a few really important patents, for example, a critical patent on eliptic curve cryptography, which is the foundation off the next generation of cryptosystems.
  Interesting, to say the least.
3. Re:What? by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-09-23 08:07 · Score: 1
  
  I'm kinda surprised that there's anyone that actually wants to buy RIM.
  It still has cache' in business and government. If they released an Android device with good e-mail navigation and "enterprise" management bolt-ons, they'd do quite well.
  
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  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
4. Re: What? by Sable+Drakon · 2013-09-23 08:12 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, which is what they should have done years ago.
  
  --
  The Amarri pray for god, the Caldari pray for profit. the Gallente pray for peace, but the Minmatar pray their ships hol
5. Re:What? by gl4ss · 2013-09-23 08:59 · Score: 1
  
  that's the thing.. if they liquidate successfully tomorrow they don't lose too much.
  but in that case, why the fuck bother?
  and if they liquidate two years from now, they might be already in the hole for 4 billion.
  so what exactly is their angle? or did these guys already own a lot of it?
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
6. Re:What? by Sir+or+Madman · 2013-09-23 09:25 · Score: 2
  
  If we knew their "angle" we'd be rich like Watsa.
Re:yayyyy by ebno-10db · 2013-09-23 06:28 · Score: 5, Insightful

go back to when you were private and cared about product/customer rather than investors and their growth projections.
Much as I generally agree with you, Blackberry has been losing money at an increasing rate for some time. Privately held companies (of the real kind, not the private equity scam variety) can afford to take more of a long term view, being freed from the shackles of the self-important and absurdly overpaid idiots called stock analysts. Nevertheless, even privately held companies need some prospect of making a profit.
Cheap? by trudslev · 2013-09-23 06:29 · Score: 1

I'll buy that for a dollar :D
Like how a sick animal is taken to a private farm by JoeyRox · 2013-09-23 06:38 · Score: 1

So that it can die in peace. Blackberry's problems don't stem from it being a public company - taking it private will only shield us all from the morbid details.
Add it to the list by ArcadeMan · 2013-09-23 06:43 · Score: 1

Atari, Commodore, Nokia, RIM/BlackBerry.

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1. Re:Add it to the list by ArcadeMan · 2013-09-23 07:43 · Score: 2
  
  Atari, Commodore, Palm, Nokia, RIM/Blackberry, Anonymous Coward.
  
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  Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
2. Re:Add it to the list by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-23 08:09 · Score: 1
  
  It may be 1" long but it's 4" in diameter. The ladies call me Tuna; Tuna Can.
Hey Canadians - Not Nortel... by CohibaVancouver · 2013-09-23 07:07 · Score: 5, Informative

Comparisons between Nortel and Blackberry are unfair. Although the burst of the internet bubble contributed tremendously, the nail in Nortel's coffin was fraudulent accounting and improperly booked revenue which led to the principals being criminally charged. None of this occurred with Blackberry - BB was the victim of bad corporate decisions and management reacting too late to the iPhone and Android effect. Disappointing to the extreme, but very different from the Nortel story.
1. Re:Hey Canadians - Not Nortel... by jbolden · 2013-09-23 14:32 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not even sure if they made that bad decisions. I'd almost argue they were just beat by being outplayed. There is stuff they did I disagree with, but ultimately I don't see huge mistakes. Maybe around 2005-6 when they could have planned for the future and didn't. I see a lot of small mistakes and errors in retrospect.
2. Re:Hey Canadians - Not Nortel... by jsepeta · 2013-09-23 15:47 · Score: 1
  
  having dual CEO's was a pretty stupid move
  http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/analysts-criticize-rims-dual-ceo-structure-product-uncertainty/2011-06-06
  
  --
  Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
Chop it up... by Overzeetop · 2013-09-23 07:11 · Score: 2

Fire everyone, chop it up into marketable parts, sell the hard assets for cash, license the IP through a troll. It's the MBA way.

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Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
1. Re:Chop it up... by jsepeta · 2013-09-23 15:48 · Score: 1
  
  yep, expect next year to see blackberry's IP assets used in litigation vs Apple and Samsung and Microsoft. Not Google -- everyone's afraid of them.
  
  --
  Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
RIP RIM by Virtucon · 2013-09-23 07:19 · Score: 1

From technology leader to also ran. That's a sad thing to say from just 6 to 7 years ago when Blackberry was at the top and their shares were over $400.
This needs to go down in history as another epic fail for missed opportunities and complacent management. RIM was innovative, they pushed technology boundaries and had a rock solid platform for the enterprise. Unfortunately in a series of missteps they allowed themselves to look like fools when India and Middle Eastern countries bullied them looking for server logs and back doors by which these governments could track their citizens. Rather than erring on the side of basic human rights and telling these countries to go to hell, RIM went back and forth and depending on what articles you read either caved or gave them access to data just so they could continue to sell in those countries. So much for Security but that's only one nail in the coffin for RIM but their biggest mistake was not embracing the newer style of phones and adapting to the market. RIM could have owned this market instead of Apple but instead, RIM like so many others just let Apple move on up in terms of market share which meant that people Blackberry devices were trading them in for iPhones or Android phones.

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Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
1. Re:RIP RIM by occasional_dabbler · 2013-09-23 18:49 · Score: 1
  
  Bombardier
  
  --
  "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said. "we have a protractor"
Good move to get out of the stock market by ErichTheRed · 2013-09-23 07:24 · Score: 3, Interesting

In all reality, this private equity firm is probably going to strip all the remaining assets from BlackBerry and kill the company, but being out of the limelight is the best thing for a company in this situation to do.
When a company is publicly traded, you can _maybe_ get it to agree to changes that pay off in 1 or 2 quarters. The stock analysts and CNBC idiots make it so that every time the CEO goes to the bathroom is scrutinized for any shred of news. Anything beyond that 2-quarter limit just can't be done. Anything that involves tough decisions that affect share price can't be done either. BlackBerry needs that kind of time out of the public eye to fix the problems they have. It's too bad also -- because we're stuck in the position of having our retirements dependent on the fickle stock market (those of us without pensions, that is.) I think that if the stock market went back to being a rich man's club, and we didn't have entire news organizations waiting to pounce on every utterance that company executives make, the funding picture for companies would be much better. Look at how much negative press BlackBerry has endured -- no matter what they do, every news outlet says "they suck." Gee, why can't we keep the share price up? Why isn't anyone ignoring the advice and investing?
I echo the sentiments of others in this thread though -- Microsoft would be stupid to not buy the patents they have, and they could even fold the secure messaging stuff into Exchange.
1. Re:Good move to get out of the stock market by jbolden · 2013-09-23 14:36 · Score: 1
  
  Well the stock market can't be a rich man's club and be the funding source for most companies.
  Frankly the market is far more rational today than it was 15 years till 2009 or so. Blackberry's discounted value of future dividends was low and the repricing reflected that.
Re:yayyyy by theshowmecanuck · 2013-09-23 07:40 · Score: 1

Sure. They were sold to investors. Guess that ends that line of thought.

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-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
Can Anyone Say... by theshowmecanuck · 2013-09-23 07:50 · Score: 1

Nortel?
Another of Canada's former world leading tech giants bites the dust. I wonder what would have happened if RIM hadn't been blocked from buying Nortel assets. Would they have been diversified enough to weather this storm, or would RIM/BB have still cratered themselves.

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-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
1. Re:Can Anyone Say... by ErichTheRed · 2013-09-23 07:54 · Score: 1
  
  Didn't Nortel have "accounting irregularities" to deal with as well?
  Other than that, it sounds familiar. If I remember correctly, Nortel overextended themselves during the dotcom boom, and didn't have anything to fall back on once people stopped buying networking gear. I think IBM got most of their patents -- there's a separate company that makes network switches for their blade systems.
  I think Sun did something similar also -- too much overspending in the dotcom days, then people stopped buying expensive Unix servers.
Something fishy here? by mhocker · 2013-09-23 07:59 · Score: 2

Is it just me, or is this somewhat fishy? First, the company posts an almost billion-dollar loss on Friday then botches the BBM to iOS/Android rollout. And then once the share price is driven down to almost $8, sells itself for $9 / share.
And of course there is this: http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/08/16/blackberry_ceo_thorsten_heins_could_get_556_million_if_ousted_after_sale.html
Re:"Blackberry Will Sell Itself" by ebno-10db · 2013-09-23 11:26 · Score: 1

You should credit Winston Churchill for that joke.
Re:yayyyy by anubi · 2013-09-23 11:38 · Score: 1

Definitely.

From what I could tell, RIM had become just a pawn in the Wall Street pump'n'dump racket. That's how the uber-rich "earn" their money.

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"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
Re:Like how a sick animal is taken to a private fa by jbolden · 2013-09-23 14:29 · Score: 1

There are some interesting possibilities with BlackBerry. I can imagine lots of small profitable business that one can get out of it. I don't see any reason it needs to die, it just needs to accept that it isn't going to be going toe-to-toe with Google or Apple anymore.
Re:Suspicous timing and content of earnings releas by jbolden · 2013-09-23 14:30 · Score: 1

Maybe not. But Blackberry has been saying for 2 years they wanted a buyer and legitimately their strategy kinda sucked. I think you are right about the timing but there is no major conspiracy here.