BlackBerry Ltd, on the block as its
smartphone business struggles, is in talks with Cisco
Systems, Google
Inc and SAPabout selling them all or parts of
itself, several sources close to the matter said.
Such a deal would be an alternative to the preliminary agreement
reached weeks ago with a group, led by BlackBerry's biggest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings, to take the
company private for about $4.7 billion, a bid which has faced some skepticism
because of financing questions.
The company, based in Waterloo, Ontario, has asked for
preliminary expressions of interest from potential strategic buyers, which also
include Intel
Corp and Asian
companies LG and Samsung, by early next week.
It is unclear which parties will bid, if any. But the potential
technology buyers have been especially interested in BlackBerry's secure server
network and patent portfolio, although doubts about the assets' value remain an
issue, the sources said.
Google, Intel, Cisco, LG and SAP declined to comment. Samsung
was not immediately available for comment.
Possible bidders are proceeding with caution given the
uncertainty around BlackBerry, which last month reported a quarterly loss of
nearly $1 billion after taking a writedown on unsold Z10 phones.
The value of BlackBerry's patent portfolio and licensing
agreements is likely to halve in the next 18 months, a company filing from this
week shows, potentially limiting its attractiveness.
According to analysts, BlackBerry's assets include a shrinking
yet well-regarded services business that powers its security-focused messaging
system, worth $3 billion to $4.5 billion; a collection of patents that could be
worth $2 billion to $3 billion; and $3.1 billion in cash and investments.
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