“BlackBerry Ltd’s decision to accept a $1 billion cash injection from a group of investors led by Canadian financier Prem Watsa shocked other potential bidders for the smartphone maker and has left some investors crying foul,” Greg Roumeliotis and Euan Rocha report for Reuters.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s cruel and unusual punishment to try to keep the walking dead alive. Setting fire to $1 billion in cash would be more productive.
“With the investment deal, BlackBerry abruptly ended an auction process that many investors had hoped would have led to a sale of the company or some of its assets, ending a long decline in its fortunes as a public company,” Roumeliotis and Rocha report. “BlackBerry has bled market share in recent years, as it struggled to compete with Apple Inc’s iPhone and devices running Google Inc’s Android software.”
Roumeliotis and Rocha report, “The investment deal with the Watsa-led group gives BlackBerry more time to come up with a new turnaround strategy and installs a respected industry executive to lead the charge. BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins was ousted, and John Chen, credited with turning around Sybase Inc in the late 1990s, took the helm on an interim basis. But investors are skeptical that time will solve the company’s problems… ‘BlackBerry is hemorrhaging employees, it is hemorrhaging customers. The only thing that’s growing is doubt,’ said John Stephenson, a senior vice president at First Asset Investment Management and one of BlackBerry’s disgruntled investors.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you’re still a BlackBerry investor, disgruntlement is the least of your problems.
Related articles:
Beleaguered BlackBerry plunges after sale to Fairfax falls through; CEO Heins out – November 4, 2013
Apple should buy BlackBerry and sell lower-priced iOS-powered phones and tablets under the BlackBerry brand – November 4, 2013
Apple recruits employees from beleaguered BlackBerry – October 10, 2013
Beleaguered BlackBerry hit with shareholder class action lawsuit for misrepresenting state of company – October 5, 2013
Beleaguered Blackberry reports $965 million second quarter loss – September 27, 2013
T-Mobile USA stops stocking beleaguered BlackBerry’s phones – September 26, 2013
Amateur hour is over: Beleaguered BlackBerry sold to Fairfax Financial-led consortium – September 23, 2013
Beleaguered BlackBerry’s CEO calls Apple’s iPhone old news – March 18, 2013
Talk about high-stakes gambling!
Talk about people with more money than sense!
——RM
Talk about money down the shitter!
I wonder if U2’s Bono is still a major investor in Blackberry, and what his thoughts are now?
“If you’re still a BlackBerry investor, disgruntlement is the least of your problems.”
Yeah, you should have sold way before now and reinvested in a psychiatrist to understand how you didn’t see this coming starting with Jan 2007 & Steve Jobs.
1
And to think, some actually suggested that Apple look at buying the brand.
The sapphire glass was a much better acquisition, glad someone at Apple suggested that.
The only people who are buying BB phones are young girls with false nails who spend their life messaging and old school business types who just can’t let it go.
So where is their ‘Charge’ going to come from one wonders. For that matter who amongst these customers are likely to be queuing to buy an Apple produced BB phone I wonder. Most old school business types who prize so called privacy/business attributes are most likely PC anti Apple types which is why Nokia/Microsoft is so crowing how they will be coming over to them.