BlackBerry Receives Takeover Bid Worth $4.7 Billion or $9/Share

BlackBerry LogoBlackBerry has agreed to a "letter of intent" to be acquired by Fairfax Financial, in a potential deal worth $4.7 billion or $9 per share. Fairfax currently owns 10% of BlackBerry shares.

Fairfax Financial is a conglomerate holding company, somewhat like a Canadian Berkshire Hathaway. The company's primary business is insurance. Fairfax's CEO, Prem Watsa, was on the BlackBerry board of directors until he resigned from the position last month.

The deal is far from complete, with "a number of conditions" according to Bloomberg reporter Sarah Frier. The agreement includes six weeks of due diligence and, in the meantime, BlackBerry is free to look for higher bids, though Fairfax has the right to match those bids.

From The Globe and Mail:

"BlackBerry has fallen on hard times recently, but we have every confidence it will be successful again," Fairfax CEO Prem Watsa said in an interview.

[…]

Mr. Watsa said that a significant amount of the equity in the deal will come from Canada. There are no strategic players, or other technology firms, in the consortium.

"If the right strategic investor comes in we’d consider taking them as a partner in this company," Mr. Watsa said. "We’re looking at any possibility for the good of the company, its customers and its employees."

As part of a larger reorganization of the company, BlackBerry said on Friday that it would layoff 40 percent of its staff, ceasing sales of devices to consumers. The company also put the imminent release of the iOS version of BlackBerry Messenger on indefinite hold because of separate technical issues with the rollout.

BlackBerry shares had been halted because of the news, but last traded at $8.23 a share. The stock traded near $15 as recently as July.

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...

Top Rated Comments

keysofanxiety Avatar
150 months ago
"BlackBerry has fallen on hard times recently, but we have every confidence it will be successful again," Fairfax CEO Prem Watsa said in an interview.
Meanwhile at Apple:

Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
IJ Reilly Avatar
150 months ago
The equity firm could buy the assets of Palm from HP and merge them with Blackberry into a new company called BoatAnchor.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tiger8 Avatar
150 months ago
although I've never owned a Blackberry, it's sad to see a company that was well done and put out a great product go down. They just joined the party too late.

Quite the contrary, one can argue that the first real smartphone is a blackberry. They started the party in more than one way.

however, the cautionary tale of Blackberry is INNOVATE or die. Apple iPhone is a disruptive technology, Blackberry resisted it thinking it will fade away (just like Windows phone 5.0 and 6.0), but it didn't. Even Android contributed to Blackberry's demise.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Codyak Avatar
150 months ago
Careful MacRumors, all these non-Apple stories are gonna cause some here to have a serious fit. :rolleyes:
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DollaTwentyFive Avatar
150 months ago
Amateur hour is over.

Were it not for BlackBerry, we probably wouldn't have the iPhones that we do today. Sure, we can call their last few years "amateur hour," but from 1999 or so - they were the pros. The rest of the devices were amateur. It's easy to laugh this off, but there is a potential for more than 10,000 people to lose their jobs. They may be "amateurs" in your mind, but they have to put food on the table like we all do.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Starflyer Avatar
150 months ago
Amateur hour is over.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)