BlackBerry Gets $4.7B Buyout Offer

The following is an excerpt from an ABC News article that quotes visiting marketing professor Brett Robinson on the BlackBerry sale. To read the entire article visit: BlackBerry Gets $4.7B Buyout Offer


The embattled smartphone maker BlackBerry announced today it has a $4.7 billion sale offer from Fairfax Financial to take the company private.

Fairfax has signed a letter of intent to buy BlackBerry for $9 a share. The buyout firm already owns 10 percent of the company, BlackBerry said in a statement.

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University of Notre Dame visiting professor of marketing Brett Robinson said it will be "extremely difficult" for Fairfax to turn BlackBerry around.

"Smart device manufacturers have to be agile when it comes to delivering media content," he said. "BlackBerry's recent attempt to launch a software messaging service could have been a smart move in that direction but was derailed by a premature leak. It seems like the company is always taking one step forward and two steps back."

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