Executives at BlackBerry may find that it’s exceptionally difficult to sell the company… especially when there are no eager buyers.
According to published reports Monday, a large number of potential bidders have taken a good look at the purchase opportunity being afforded by the embatled Canadian smartphone maker.
So far, however, the interest level is said to be “tepid” at best.
Private equity firms are mostly interested in businesses such as BlackBerry’s operating system and the patents around its keyboard, two of the sources said. However, one possibility is for a Canadian pension fund to team up with an investor to buy the whole company, which is currently worth a little more than $5 billion, one of the sources said.
“According to analysts,” Reuters reports, “BlackBerry’s assets include a shrinking, yet well-regarded services business that powers its security-focused messaging system, worth $3 billion to $4.5 billion; a collection of patents that could be worth $2 billion to $3 billion; and $3.1 billion in cash and investments.”
The smartphone maker has not offer comment in response to reports that buyer interest is soft for the time being.
