BlackBerry agrees to sell to Fairfax for $4.7 billion

BlackBerry has agreed to accept a buyout offer from Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, which will offer a total $4.7 billion for the company and bring it back into privacy.

Well it has just about happened. Blackberry has announced it's accepted a $4.7 billion offer from Fairfax Financial Holdings for itself, about a month after the company's board announced it was considering a sale.

Fairfax, which already had a 10 percent stake in the BlackBerry's shares, will pay $9 per share in the former smartphone giant, adding up to the aforementioned $4.7 billion. Under Fairfax, BlackBerry will be a private company, as it had been considering last month. BlackBerry is signing a letter of intent to confirm the preliminary deal.

While Fairfax hasn't announced what it plans on doing with BlackBerry once the deal is completed, Chairman and CEO Prem Watsa served up some optimism.

"We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees," he stated. "We can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world."

Last week a report claimed BlackBerry confirmed it will cut 4,500 jobs, so it seems like this buyout will ultimately prove to be a wise decision. BlackBerry has suffered through quite a bit over the past few years while failing to stay relevant in the smartphone and tablet market, so it'll be interesting to see what the future has to hold.

Source: TechnoBuffalo