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Co-founder Mike Lazaridis increases BlackBerry stake, considers bid

Published Oct 10th, 2013 2:45PM EDT
Lazaridis BlackBerry Bid

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BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis, who is likely just as responsible for BlackBerry’s early success as he is for its collapse, on Thursday filed a Schedule 13D with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealing that he recently increased his stake in the company. Lazaridis had previously held a 5.7% stake in BlackBerry, and he now owns 8% of the company. The document also reveals that Lazaridis and fellow BlackBerry co-founder Douglas Fregin have entered into an agreement to “explore the possibility of submitting a potential joint bid” for BlackBerry, which is still on the ropes as rumors swirl that Fairfax Financial will not be able to secure funding for its proposed $4.7 billion buyout. BlackBerry shares spiked roughly 1% to $8.19 on the news after having been hovering in the red around $8.06 all morning.

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Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.