3:56 AM
Ri
BlackBerry co-founders keen on takeover bid
Lazaridis rises.
Mike Lazaradis, the erstwhile-BlackBerry CEO, company-founder and the
man who oversaw BlackBerry's rise and fall, is said to be readying a
takeover bid for the company. Partnering with co-founder Doug Fregin, Lazaradis has asked Goldman Sachs to help find potential backers for a $4.7 billion deal. That’s according to a filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US.
The men already own an 8% stake in the failing mobile-maker. They started the firm in 1984, with Lazaradis helping it to become dominant in the pre-iPhone era.
However, his and co-CEO Jim Balsillie’s blasé approach to the threats of Apple and Google helped turn BlackBery into the tech world’s biggest basket case.
It comes as Fairfax Financial, who had agreed a deal in principle with BlackBerry’s so-called special committee to buy the company for $4.7 billion, appears to have run into trouble.
That’s led BlackBerry execs to approach the likes of Google, Samsung and LG about buying some, or all, of its assets. These major players were apparently asked to submit expressions of interest earlier this week.
While the committee hasn’t made a comment on Lazaridis’s bid, it’s understood that there is more money to be made if BlackBerry is split up.
Analysts suggest that the Canadian giant’s patents and enterprise network could raise $4 billion alone.
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