BlackBerry Founders May Try To Take Over the Company 118
New submitter Adamsobert sends this excerpt from the NY Times:
"In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin said that they were considering a bid for the 92 percent of the company that they do not own. ... Their potential bid joins a growing list of expressions of interest in the company, which recently reported a $1 billion quarterly loss caused by the market's rejection of new smartphones that were supposed to revive BlackBerry's prominence. Fairfax Financial Holdings of Toronto has made a conditional, nonbinding offer to buy the 90 percent of BlackBerry shares it does not own for $9 each. That would value the company at about $4.7 billion."
Yea what a great idea (Score:1, Insightful)
They did such a great job running it before...
Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
What's the actual value (not market value, actual value) of BlackBerry? What are they going to get for that ~$5bn? It seems to me BlackBerry aren't competitive in the handset market any more and don't stand any chance of becoming so any time soon. They are pushing BBM for other platforms now, are they trying to pivot and become a messaging company? Again, I don't see how they are competitive or how they will make money.
Recipe for succes (Score:4, Insightful)
Make it the safest telephone ever.
With heavy encryption, plugins for blocking all data harvesters and no NSA eaves dropping.
Since it is a non-US based company, it should be possible.
I would already be happy with a low-app, low-cost monochrome e-ink phone with extreme battery life, as long as it is very secure.
Just for business communication. That's what blackberry should be used for. Stay in that market niche.
Then I'll read Facebook and Twitter on my other, bloated, battery draining spyware infested color telephone.
Or combine both systems into one, but remember to keep the data channels physically separated.
Re:Yea what a great idea (Score:4, Insightful)
You realize that Mike Lazaridis only just resigned from the board only like 7 months ago, right? Jobs was gone from Apple for more than a decade. The two situations are hardly comparable.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, about $2B in cash, no debt, one of the biggest patent portfolios on mobile tech, global datacenter presence, direct links and relationships with over 150 carriers, a manufacturing chain, and still around 60 million customers - and a brand, while presently negative, that is internationally known. At $9 a share from Fairfax, they could do nothing but shut down the company, sell the assets, and make money.
That being said, I have a BB10 device, and I honestly believe they have a quality product. Their problems are more about marketing, advertising, and un-fucking their relationships with various companies and carriers (they obviously pissed in Netflix's wheaties, since they refuse to release a BB10 app, whereas Netflix will put their software on just about anything). Yes, the company was poorly managed these past 5-6 years, but they're not "worthless". They've managed to piss off the carriers and some developers. That's most of the problem.
What We've Got Here Is Failure to Innovate (Score:5, Insightful)
Fast-forward to today. I was driving to work in Mississauga, Ontario (about an hour east of Waterloo) and decided to take a different route for the first time. To my surprise I saw two huge BlackBerry building that looked like they were no more than a few years old. I can only imagine this is the tip of the iceberg as to the properties, corporate jets, and huge amounts of staff they still have and are in desperate need of shedding as they are burning through cash like crazy and have almost nothing to show for it.
If Mike Lazaridis were to come back that would be the kiss of death for them - the nail in the coffin. Let's remember who was on the board (along with Ballsillie) during the times that allowed the company to a) grow massively b) fail to innovate and c) put all their eggs in one basket. Then when times got tough, both of them chickened out, sold shares and took the money and ran. Mike Lazaridis might be smart engineer who is good at technology and ceasing opportunities but is likely a lousy businessman and innovator.
BB doesn't need better hardware or better technology - they need a better leader who innovates, inspires and can see into the future much like Jobs, Page/Brin, etc. I am afraid it's far too late to save the company as they are at least one generation behind everything and have an abysmal market share. They may be good at doing email but that is very easy technology to implement/copy in other devices. Honestly the best thing that could happen to them at this point would be if somebody like Google or Micro$oft bought them for their patents and IP.
It is very sad what has happened to them and all the employees who have lost or are loosing their jobs but their downfall is almost entirely their own fault due to their arrogance, failure to innovate and lack of product diversification.