DeutscheWelle, 23 Sep 2013
BlackBerry has agreed to a buyout worth billions of dollars. The move comes just days after the one-time mobile phone pioneer said it was laying off 40 percent of its workforce in expectation of massive losses this year.
BlackBerry has agreed to a buyout worth billions of dollars. The move comes just days after the one-time mobile phone pioneer said it was laying off 40 percent of its workforce in expectation of massive losses this year.
In a
statement released on Monday, BlackBerry said it would sell its stocks to a
consortium of shareholders for $4.7 billion (3.48 billion euros) following
disappointing sales.
The
Canadian company "signed a letter of intent agreement under which a
consortium to be led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited has offered to
acquire the company subject to due diligence."
Fairfax -
also based in Canada - already owns 10 percent of BlackBerry.
Current
shareholders are to receive $9 for each outstanding share, the statement added.
On Friday,
Blackberry said it planned to lay off 4,500 employees - roughly 40 percent of
its current workforce. The smartphone maker let go nearly as many workers in
the previous year as well.
With the
release of its Z10 smartphone this year, BlackBerry attempted to rejuvenate its
image in a highly competitive smartphone market which is dominated by Apple and
Android phones. However, the company said on Friday it still expected to incur
losses of $995 million in the second quarter of this year.
BlackBerry
phones surpassed technology on the market in the early 2000s by allowing users
to access email and other services online. The rise of the iPhone in 2007,
followed soon after by Android phones, soon stole away consumers with the touch
screen and other technological innovations.
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