After months of speculation, Blackberry has been sold, or at least it’s had an offer — with the company still permitted to back out as it sees fit. The $4.7bn takeover bid is being footed by a consortium led by Blackberry’s largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial. In comparison to this bid, Nokia’s devices division was bought by Microsoft just a few weeks back for $7.2bn.
Blackberry has been on somewhat of a roller coaster ride recently, with the company announcing its exit from the consumer market after a $950 million loss — a loss that forced the company to halt the trading of its shares on the stock exchange. Both Fairfax Financial and Blackberry can back out of the deal at anytime, with Blackberry asserting that it would continue to explore other options.
The sale of Blackberry had been expected since August, when the company announced its intentions to put itself on the market, and since then suitors have come in all shapes and size.
This sale could have one benefit to Blackberry, given the company would no longer have shareholders to answer to, as it would be entirely private. Blackberry isn’t the only company vying to go private, with computer manufacturer Dell also pursuing this option so it can realign itself without scrutiny.