BlackBerry open to going private.
IF the rumor filtering around has any iota of fact in it, then one can boldly say it will not be business as usual for retailers that distributes BlackBerry mobile phones. Retailers seems to be a lot saver than the investors as the firm plans to go private. This is a magnificent twist from the earlier indications from the firm.
The reasons for this twist can be laid on the poor sales of Z10. Sales have been below analyst expectations.
BlackBerry is warming up to the
possibility of going private, as the smartphone maker battles to revive
its fortunes.The firm's board are of the conviction that going private would give them breathing room to fix its problems out of the public eye. Though this is not imminent, however the possible are high, and investor are already getting to play around with the facts of the situation.
The Canadian-based company's shares have fallen more than 19 percent this year. Its market value has fallen to $4.8 billion, from $8.4 billion at its peak in 2008.
BlackBerry, which had been pinning its hopes for a turnaround on its new line of BlackBerry 10 devices, faced unprecedented disappointing.
BlackBerry's openness to consider a deal marks a radical shift in thinking at the once high-flying smartphone maker. Until recently, BlackBerry, formerly known as Research in Motion and a pioneer in providing secured emails on handheld devices, had been bent on staying independent, betting its turnaround on its latest smartphones.
The company has also been looking at options such as licensing its BlackBerry 10 software and other partnerships.
Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry has recently had discussions with private equity firm Silver Lake Partners about potential collaboration in enterprise computing, one of the sources said.
Silver Lake is caught in a bruising $25 billion battle to take Dell private. Should it succeed in the Dell buyout, one possibility could be for it to collaborate with BlackBerry in mobile computing, where the PC maker has struggled to gain traction, the source said.
The talks with Silver Lake did not involve any buyout or other transaction-related discussions, the source said.
Silver Lake declined to comment.
Pressure is only increasing on the smartphone maker. BlackBerry 10 sales have come in well below some analysts' expectations, raising questions about whether the company can quickly win back market share from Apple Inc's iPhone as well as Samsung's Galaxy devices and other phones powered by Google's Android operating system.
Some investors say the company must now look at all of its options, from a sale of the whole company to a sale of parts. Its valuable patent portfolio and high-margin services business could draw interest from technology companies.
But private equity firms have circled the company for more than two years and have tried without success so far to figure out ways to structure a deal.
Moreover, Ottawa reviews any big takeover of a Canadian company for competitive and national security reasons. Government officials have often said they want BlackBerry to succeed as a Canadian company, but concede they do not know how things will play out.
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