Launched in the 1980s, the Canadian company, Blackberry has known better days. Since the arrival of competing smart phones, in particular the iPhone, its sales have gradually fallen. During the second quarter of 2013, the Group lost more than 265 million dollars. Having reached a dead-end, the Directors have just given their agreement to sell all shares to the Fairfax Company.
The investment company specialised in insurance, intends to buy all the Group's shares at 9 dollars each, for a total of 4.7 billion dollars, and to become a private company. Whilst the investment is enormous, it is not sufficient for 40% of BlackBerry's employees to keep their jobs, and more than 4500 people will be laid off after the possible takeover by Fairfax.
Fairfax wants to give the pioneer of the smart phone a boost, but not for the general public. The war declared between its competitors, Apple, Samsung and Microsoft hasn't left much space for Blackberry in the mobile phone sector (8% of sales of smart phones). So BlackBerry intends to abandon this sector of activity to focus exclusively on products for professionals.
Other purchase proposals are expected before 4 November, when BlackBerry must transfer its structure to Fairfax. For the moment, this minority investor only owns 10% of the capital, but intends to capture it fully. Since August, Prem Watsa, director of Fairfax, has stood down from BlackBerry's Board of Directors to avoid any conflicts of interest, in anticipation of the future transaction.
It should be remembered that Mike Lazaridis, CEO and founder of BlackBerry, was ejected from the Board of Directors in January 2012. To recover his company, Mike Lazaridis is negotiating with investors and may present a purchase offer before the deadline. In addition, the Chinese company, Lenovo, wanted to acquire BlackBerry a short while ago.
News in the same category
Having opened a new store in London, Microsoft now has a brick-and-mortar setup for the first time in Europe. It's located right in the centre of West End, London on Oxford Circus corner – a spot that is frequented by close to 600,000 people every day.
Cyber-security might be fun, after all! Emojis are to update our good old four-digit codes, thanks to Intelligent Environments, a British technology company.
Great news for wine lovers: thanks to Naked Wines and it new ordering service, a good sip of wine is just one text away.
Announced at the end of 2013 by the internet giant, the Amazon Prime Air service should soon start in the United States. This delivery service was temporarily authorised by the American authorities, under certain conditions.
