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And the surprise dark horse bidder for BlackBerry is… Facebook?

Published Oct 29th, 2013 2:32PM EDT
BlackBerry Facebook Merger Bid

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How’s this for a counterintuitive merger: A mobile device company that plans to focus its efforts more on the enterprise market coupled with a consumer-centric social networking giant that has repeatedly said that it has no interest in building its own smartphones? Believe it or not, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that “BlackBerry executives flew to California to meet with Facebook last week to gauge its interest in a potential bid for the struggling smartphone-maker.”

It’s not surprising that BlackBerry would be willing to chat with Facebook about a merger since the company wants to have all its bases covered before deciding whether to take the $4.7 billion offer on the table from Fairfax Financial. It is surprising that Facebook would show interest, however, since the company has never given any indication that it has plans to get into the hardware or enterprise security game. The Journal’s sources gave no reason why Facebook might be interested in the struggling Canadian smartphone manufacturer and Facebook representatives declined to comment on the story.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.