RIM has faced its fair share of problems increasing its market share in the mobile market. Few reports came out earlier saying that RIM might be ready to licence its new and upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS to vendors such as Samsung and HTC. There were also rumours about RIM talking to Goldman Sachs for advice on possible outright sale of a division or the entire company. According to BGR, RIM is looking at Samsung for a sale of the company.
“RIM is most likely leaning toward an outright sale of one or more divisions, or even the whole company. The front runner, we have been told by a trusted source with knowledge of the situation, is Samsung.” - Jonathan S. Geller, BGR
We think that the rumour about RIM selling the entire company is very baseless as BGR doesn’t have any reliable source except a quote “Jim is going hard after Samsung,” from one of their sources. The quote is referring to Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM.
That being said, it is quite believable that RIM might be looking at vendors for licencing their new software for gaining more marketshare. Having manufacturing giants like Samsung and HTC would help out with market penetration as RIM’s BalckBerry 10 OS will be available on a variety of devices. Manufacturers like Samsung might also be interested in a licencing deal as this might provide one of the biggest assets of RIM, the BlackBerry Messenger.
Going back to the rumours about sale of the entire company. BGR reports that RIM “is looking for more than $10 billion for a full sale, likely somewhere in the $12 billion to $15 billion range, or between approximately $22.90 and $28.60 per share”. Current market capitalization for RIM hovers around $8.5 Billion; looking at RIM’s current Stock price, it is very unlikely that any company would be willing to spend more than $10 Billion for the entire company. Both RIM and Samsung haven’t commented on the topic and we won’t see any evidence before any sort of deal actually takes place.
RIM Stock on January 17, 2012.
It will be very interesting to observe RIM during 2012, especially if there is a licencing agreement with companies like HTC and Samsung. Give your thoughts on these rumours, do you think RIM might be looking at Samsung for an outright sale?
Update: Reuters is reporting the following from Samsung, “We haven’t considered acquiring the firm and are not interested in (buying RIM),” James Chung, Samsung spokesman. Chung also mentioned that RIM never approached Samsung with such offer. Interestingly, the statement from Samsung comes after the 6% surge in RIM Stock. [Source: Reuters]
Source: BGR