Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

BlackBerry Board Refused to Break Up Company Despite Interest From Apple, Others

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,442
30,645



z10-200x193.jpg
Apple and Microsoft both expressed interest in acquiring portions of BlackBerry, according to a new report from Reuters. BlackBerry's board ultimately elected not to break up the company, despite Apple's interest in its intellectual property and patents. According to the report, the company also had discussions with Microsoft, Cisco, Google, and Lenovo.
BlackBerry Ltd's board does not believe a break-up of the Canadian smartphone maker is currently in its best interests, even though Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd, among others, have expressed interest in acquiring parts of the company, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The board rejected proposals from several technology companies for various BlackBerry assets on grounds that a break-up did not serve the interest of all stakeholders, which include employees, customers and suppliers in addition to shareholders, said the sources, who did not want to be identified as the discussions were confidential.
Click to expand...
Earlier this year, the struggling BlackBerry was forced to initiate significant layoffs. The company received a $4.7 billion takeover bid from Fairfax Financial in September, though Fairfax Financial and BlackBerry ultimately chose not to proceed with its offer, with BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins stepping down in favor of John Chen, former CEO of Sybase.

Instead, Fairfax Financial and several other investors have opted to invest $1 billion in BlackBerry via debt securities, giving BlackBerry a chance to re-establish itself in the smartphone market, where it has been unable to keep up with the competition.

BlackBerry holds a number of valuable patents, worth approximately $1 to $3 billion. In 2012, its patent portfolio grew by 986 patents, many of which would be relevant to competing smartphone companies like Apple and Google. BlackBerry's patents are also relatively new, giving them a long lifespan and increasing their overall value.

BlackBerry's latest phone, the Z10, saw steep discounts just months after its launch due to weak sales. BlackBerry has had better success with its recently released BlackBerry Messenger apps for iOS and Android, which saw more than 10 million downloads within the first 24 hours.

Article Link: BlackBerry Board Refused to Break Up Company Despite Interest From Apple, Others
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/11/08/blackberry-board-refused-to-break-up-company-despite-interest-from-apple-others/
Squilly

Squilly

macrumors 68020
Nov 17, 2012
2,260
4
PA
They could always sue other companies for money like a patent troll for violations... They should've broken up the company for pieces. BBRY is obsolete these days.
 
flottenheimer

flottenheimer

macrumors 68000
Jan 8, 2008
1,525
634
Up north
If they were merged into, say, Lenovo, it could be interesting.
On their own I feel pretty confident that they won't make it. It will be painful to watch.
 
C

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,555
1,666
Redondo Beach, California
gmcalpin said:
This is almost certainly a case where the parts of the company are worth more than the whole thing…
Click to expand...

Then why did Apple, Microsoft and Google all offer to buy only parts of the company? Apple could have bought the entire company and then sold off the parts it has no use for and made money. They didn't so I suspect you are wrong. The parts are not worth more or someone would be acted on that already.
 
chirpie

chirpie

macrumors 6502a
Jul 23, 2010
646
183
ChrisA said:
Then why did Apple, Microsoft and Google all offer to buy only parts of the company? Apple could have bought the entire company and then sold off the parts it has no use for and made money. They didn't so I suspect you are wrong. The parts are not worth more or someone would be acted on that already.
Click to expand...

Meh, Kodak was certainly worth more in pieces. ^_^
 
J

joshwolf

macrumors newbie
Aug 18, 2010
4
0
BlackBerry should've specialized in early Andrioid headsets with keyboards

BlackBerry had a real window to remain a power player in the smart phone world if they had developed a custom version of Android designed to add classic Blackberry features to a keyboard equipped Android device. Had that been released within the first year of Android's launch, Blackberry would have remained the top device for its segment.
 
danuff

danuff

macrumors regular
Jun 10, 2007
108
50
Allentown, Pennsylvania
-----

This is just another example of a company that didn't take Apple seriously enough when they unveiled the iPhone back in 2007, because the powers that were at the time didn't think that they (Apple) could break in to the market. Just goes to show you, you snooze, you loose.
 
M

m2nal

macrumors newbie
May 14, 2009
25
7
blackberry could drag this out a bit longer.....as long as they don't lose existing enterprise clients but their not going to gain any large enterprise market share at this point. From a sys admin standpoint why in the hell would I buy BES and force BB devices on my users. No benefits nowadays with other cheaper MDM tools out there for any BYOD
 
G

GadgetGav

macrumors member
Oct 18, 2010
75
1
Well, I guess Microsoft and Apple will just pick up the parts they want cheaper from the receivers in a year or so then.
For a company on the edge, BlackBerry seem awfully picky about what and to whom they'll sell...
 
M

mattferg

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2013
380
22
BlackBerry, much like their products, are going down struggling and embarrassingly.
 
A

Alumeenium

macrumors regular
May 15, 2013
200
68
the parts will just get cheaper,

guess the board missed their golden parachutes this round ...
 
A

aardwolf

macrumors 6502
May 30, 2007
383
211
ChrisA said:
Then why did Apple, Microsoft and Google all offer to buy only parts of the company? Apple could have bought the entire company and then sold off the parts it has no use for and made money. They didn't so I suspect you are wrong. The parts are not worth more or someone would be acted on that already.
Click to expand...

Good chunks of the company are a huge liability. How do you sell a liability?
 
R

rmwebs

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2007
3,140
0
SSD-GUY said:
BlackBerry will have it's day again soon.

#CrackBerry.
Click to expand...

How'd you figure? They've not come up with anything successful since the iPhone came out. They've been in a nosedive for a long time now with no obvious plan to even attempt to fix that.
 
R

Ryth

macrumors 68000
Apr 21, 2011
1,591
157
They should have sold to either...especially Apple.

Their time is past and their days of survival are numbered.
 
iReality85

iReality85

macrumors 65816
Apr 29, 2008
1,107
2,380
Upstate NY
I'm sorry, but a breakup does not serve the interests of its shareholders? That's rich, coming from a board that sat idyll as it's company made poor decisions and stagnated during the last half decade. It looks to me like their inaction, coupled with the company's failure to innovate, did not serve the interests of BlackBerry's shareholders.
 
Consultant

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
BlackBerry:
2007: iPhone is a toy
2010: iPad is a toy
2011: BlackBerry tablet will kill iPad
etc.
They aren't too smart.
 
2

24Frames

macrumors regular
Mar 23, 2012
181
0
It seems likely, from what I've read, that the Canadian government is meddling in Blackberry's future. The likely result is no future at all.

Letting one of the big tech companies buy all or part of Blackberry would be the best outcome for all stakeholders.

To me so called "Patent Trolls" have a useful and legitimate purpose, that nobody ever seem to mention, namely to realise value in patents created by failed technology companies thus allowing some of the value in those companies to be recouped.
 
noisycats

noisycats

macrumors 6502a
Jun 1, 2010
772
864
The 'ham. Alabama.
SkyBell said:
So I suppose you've never heard of BB OS 10 or their almost entirely new hardware lineup?
Click to expand...

You really are serious, aren't you?

I have heard of both, which based on market acceptance places me in a super small subset.

Where have you been that you think they still have viable offerings?
(Aside from patents)
 
G

gatearray

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2010
1,130
232
joshwolf said:
BlackBerry had a real window to remain a power player in the smart phone world if they had developed a custom version of Android designed to add classic Blackberry features to a keyboard equipped Android device. Had that been released within the first year of Android's launch, Blackberry would have remained the top device for its segment.
Click to expand...

What, and go toe-to-toe with this bad boy?
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    34.8 KB · Views: 225
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom