BlackBerry Enter To A Deal With A Consortium For $4.7 Billion

BlackBerry Enter To A Deal With A Consortium For $4.7 Billion

An agreement between BlackBerry and a group headed by Fairfax Financial Holdings was entered into recently that will take the company private. The deal will give shareholders $9 per share, which is slightly higher than the $8.23 value of the stock.

The deal follows an uncertainty that clouded the future of the company. The company revealed recently that it may lose around $1 billion during the second quarter. Around ten percent of the stake in the company will be contributed by Fairfax to the consortium. The group will be given until the 4th of November to look into the financial status of the company. BlackBerry reserves the right to consider other offers during this period.

However, Fairfax remains positive about the future of the company. It revealed that it will continue to implement the long-term strategy of the company once it becomes private.

After the company fell behind the Android and iOS after it was not able to move past its legacy operating system that allowed it to join the smartphone market. Stocks of the company decline by 94 percent in the last five years.

Although the BlackBerry 10 was released near the start of the year, it was already too late. The BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 was not enough to bring up the fortunes of the company. This came as the Windows Phone of Microsoft started to gain ground in the market.

The smartphones of the company did not attract interest in the market despite some initial excitement and critical praise. The Z30 was launched recently without much fanfare. The company is set to release a number of other products according to a number of recent reports.

The company will also avoid scrutiny by the public when it makes a comeback into the market as a private company. However, it remains uncertain what the consortium can do to turn the fortunes of the company.

BlackBerry has indicated that it will aim for prosumers and business users instead of consumer in the future, which will make the future of its device business uncertain.

Posted by James Fried on Tuesday September 24 2013, 9:49 AM EST. Ref: CNET. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Finance. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0