Galaxy Note Edge smart phones are on display at the Samsung booth during the International CES, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, in Las Vegas. John Locher/WIRED
BlackBerry may soon disappear into Samsung, according to a new report.
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that South Korean smartphone giant Samsung approached BlackBerry to buy the beleaguered company for as much as $7.5 billion, citing a person familiar with the matter and unspecified documents. According to the news agency, Samsung is looking to acquire BlackBerry for its patent portfolio.
According to Reuters’ source, Samsung proposed an initial price range of $13.35 to $15.49 per share—38 percent to 60 percent more than BlackBerry’s current trading price. If accurate, the bid would put BlackBerry’s valuation at $6 billion to $7.5 billion, after taking the company’s $1.25 billion debt into consideration, according to the documents seen by Reuters.
Reuters’ source has also claimed that executives from the two companies, along with advisers, met last week to discuss the arrangement. BlackBerry and Samsung have yet to comment publicly on the deal.
BlackBerry has found itself in dire straits for quite some time now. Over a year after the Canadian firm appointed a new CEO, John Chen, to save the company, it has not seen much improvement in profits. According to a December report, Chen was able to cut down losses from $148 million compared to $4.4 billion decline in earnings last year, and attempted to reform its business into a software-and-services company.
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