The sun has finally set on Blackberry, after its board approved the $4.7 billion takeover bid by Fairfax Financial. Blackberry's board has signed a letter of intent for a $9 per share price, which is higher than the current stock value of $8.23 per share as seen just before trading was halted, pending the agreement. The board is open to other offers given that they are “alternatives superior to the present proposal from the Fairfax consortium.” Fairfax Financial already holds about 10% stake in the company. If the deal goes through, Fairfax will pursue funding the deal Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and BMO Capital, according to the press release.
There's also a $0.30 fee per share in case Blackberry decides to forego this bid, and choose a different one. This might just be the end of Blackberry as we've been foreseeing for a long time. Going private might help Blackberry to reorganize itself without the prying eyes of the investors and Wall Street. Although it remains to be seen if the company has a solid plan in place, the Blackberry Z10 failed as the brand ambassador of the company and Blackberry OS 10. Even today the company still sells more Blackberry 7 devices than OS 10 devices by a significant margin. Then there's the botched launch of BBM for Android and the iPhone which was pushed back, but after the current news it seems this might just have the probable reason for the rollback.
What remains to be seen if Fairfax really has a plan in place to get Blackberry back on its feet as a niche smartphone manufacturer for the Prosumer and Enterprise segment. For now, the curtains are closed and only time will tell if they will ever be rolled up again.
