Microsoft Planning to Buy BlackBerry for $7 Billion?
Rumors have emerged that Microsoft is looking to buy BlackBerry for $7 billion, and it isn't the only company wanting to purchase the Canadian company.
Microsoft isn't the only major player with BlackBerry in its sights. According to DigiTimes, Huawei, Lenovo, and Xiaomi Technology in China, have also expressed their interest in acquiring the Canadian company, which posted a profitable fourth quarter last year.
While BlackBerry's shares closed at $10.48 last Friday, there have been reports its BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic aren't selling as briskly as expected to revive sales, resulting in a recent round of global job cuts and corporate restructuring announced last week.
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Microsoft has even been reported to have hired investment companies to evaluate the possibility of a BlackBerry acquisition.
Despite its purchase of Nokia Devices and Services division in the first quarter of 2014 in a $7 billion deal, the Redmond company is still looking to shore up its mobile technology systems, while getting its hands on potentially lucrative patents to enhance its competitive presence in business mobile solutions, mobile platforms, and communications industry.
With Canadian BlackBerry having shifted is business focus to software, its products have been deemed complementary to Microsoft's own hardware.
As for the Chinese electronics manufacturers who've been said to have expressed interest, there exists a strong possibility of them falling behind Microsoft as they go through the difficulty of facing U.S. and European regulatory agencies.
This isn't the first rumor that's emerged over BlackBerry. Earlier in January, reports arose South Korea's Samsung had offered a $7.5 billion deal for BlackBerry, a speculation which didn't come to pass.
No concrete news of a possible acquisition has been confirmed, and whether BlackBerry Limited will agree to an offer from Microsoft is yet to be seen.
