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Veritas Still Keen to Acquire Blackberry

September 4, 2023

There are indications that Veritas in bid to buy BlackBerryPrivate equity firm Veritas Capital has made an offer to buy BlackBerry, according to a person familiar with the matter, months after the Canadian technology company began a strategic review. Details of the offer could not be determined. Veritas and BlackBerry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

BlackBerry had said in May it would consider strategic options for its portfolio of businesses. Veritas has made an offer for the entire company, the source said, adding that BlackBerry is also in talks with other potential buyers.

BlackBerry had said in May it would consider strategic options for its portfolio of businesses that could include the possible separation of one or more of its businesses.

Founded in 1984, the company currently makes software for cars and cybersecurity. It became popular for its ubiquitous business smartphones, toted by executives, politicians and legions of fans in the early 2000s.

It pulled the plug on its smartphone business last year and has since been trying to sell its legacy patents related to its mobile devices.

In May, BlackBerry said it will continue with the previously announced sale of the patents related to its mobile devices to Malikie Innovations for up to $900-million. A prior deal to sell those patents to Catapult IP Innovations for $600-million fell through as it took longer than usual to close.

In 2016, BlackBerry said it would no longer manufacture its classic smartphones. Since then, the firm has been attempting to remake itself as a provider of high-end software. BlackBerry operates two primary businesses, one focused on cybersecurity software, while the other makes internet-of-things products. Veritas Capital is a technology investor that primarily buys and invests in companies that provide government-focused tools and services.

Morgan Stanley and Perella Weinberg Partners are acting as financial advisors to BlackBerry for the strategic review.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Blackberry Ceases to be Operational From Today

January 4, 2022

The groundbreaking highly innovative BlackBerry will cease to exist in its operational form from today, meaning that devices running the original operating system and services will no longer be supported after 4 January, marking the end of an era for the storied device that catapulted work into the mobile era.

Ontario-based BlackBerry, the company formerly known as Research In Motion whose signature handset in the 1990s came to embody working on the move, said handsets running its in-house software “will no longer be expected to reliably function” after Tuesday, according to its end-of-life page.

The move, first announced in 2020, effectively kills off a line-up that remains popular to this day in parts of the world for its reliability and security.

BlackBerry devices and their physical keyboards were once the go-to mobile device both for professionals keeping up with e-mail and younger people messaging on its proprietary platform. The company’s appeal waned as Apple’s iPhone and a slew of Android handsets with larger displays, better graphics and wider app offerings took over the market during the past decade.

The Canadian company stopped making its own smartphones in 2016, shifting to a software-only business and licensing its brand and services to TCL Communication Technology Holdings, which continued to release devices until its deal ran out in 2020. The TCL devices were powered by Android and will be supported until August.

Yet nostalgia for the BlackBerry name made it one of the meme stocks of 2021, triggering a massive spike in its share price in January before a similarly steep decline.

“These devices will lack the ability to receive over-the-air provisioning updates and, as such, this functionality will no longer be expected to reliably function, including for data, phone calls and SMS functionality,” the company wrote. “Applications will also have limited functionality.”