With the success of BlackBerry Messenger making lots of headlines lately it’s easy to forget that BlackBerry could soon accept a deal that would make it a private company. Barron’s reminds us that this coming Monday is the deadline for prospective BlackBerry buyer Fairfax Capital to complete its due diligence of BlackBerry’s books and for BlackBerry to consider any competing offers. Barron’s points out that FBR Capital analyst Scott Thompson writes on Friday that he’s not all that confident Fairfax will be able to take BlackBerry private because “press news of engagement with multiple tech companies in search of an ‘expression of interest’ makes us question the level of confidence BlackBerry may have in executing an attractive offer with Fairfax.”
“Since the announcement on September 23, investors have received little concrete evidence verifying Fairfax’s intent,” Thompson notes. “In the meantime, there has been a stream of press announcements from potential suitors, despite any details on a consortium’s ability to secure financing or terms of a definitive agreement.”
Thompson thinks that BlackBerry has a shot at staying relevant if it gives up on producing hardware and instead focusses on software and services such as the popular BBM.
