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Comments on news posted 2013-09-23 14:23:17: Blackberry this afternoon announced that the company has signed a letter of intent agreement (LOI) to be acquired for $4.7 billion by a consortium led by Fairfax Financial Holdings. ..


FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

So who is Fairfax?

So who is Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited ?

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fa ··· inancial
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: So who is Fairfax?

A better question is what this outfit plans to do with the company once this deal is done. My guess is that it'll be chopped up and sold to other companies. Of course, I'd prefer to see them try to turn the company around and then have a public stock sale.

skeechan
Ai Otsukaholic
Premium Member
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170

skeechan

Premium Member

Re: So who is Fairfax?

They would be flushing their money down the toilet if they tried. There is no saving RIM. It is beyond done.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: So who is Fairfax?

With the current management in place, I'd agree with you, but I think the company could be saved if you bring in the right people.

AppleGuy
Premium Member
join:2013-09-08
Kitchener, ON

AppleGuy

Premium Member

Re: So who is Fairfax?

They could.
Separate software from hardware. Allow hardware to run Android OS, business can choose BB OS, if they desire.

BB is still known for quality, some might choose BB over Samsung or HTC if they all run Android (KitKat)

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

battleop

Member

Re: So who is Fairfax?

"BB is still known for quality"

Bahahaha

aaronwt
Premium Member
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
Asus RT-AX89

aaronwt to ISurfTooMuch

Premium Member

to ISurfTooMuch
said by FFH5:

So who is Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited ?

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fa ··· inancial

I don't know how the right people could turn the company around in time. It would take alot of time to replace their current products and consumers have already rejected their current products. So they would continue bleeding money until something new could be released.
Their market share continues plummet at a drastic pace.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to ISurfTooMuch

Premium Member

to ISurfTooMuch
said by ISurfTooMuch:

A better question is what this outfit plans to do with the company once this deal is done. My guess is that it'll be chopped up and sold to other companies. Of course, I'd prefer to see them try to turn the company around and then have a public stock sale.

Maybe this might give a hint:
»www.fairfax.ca/Corporate ··· ult.aspx

A member of Fairfax Bd of Directors:

Alan D. Horn
Alan D. Horn is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Telecommunications Limited and has been Chairman of Rogers Communications Inc. since March 2006. Mr. Horn served as Acting President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Communications Inc. during 2008. Mr. Horn was Vice-President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Rogers Communications Inc. from 1996 to 2006 and was President and Chief Operating Officer of Rogers Telecommunications Limited from 1990 to 1996.

Does Rogers have some plans for Blackberry?
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: So who is Fairfax?

Interesting. Well, since Rogers is a major wireless player in Canada, it's possible.

milnoc
join:2001-03-05
Ottawa

milnoc to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
Maybe Rogers wants to sell phones permanently locked to the Rogers network.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

battleop to ISurfTooMuch

Member

to ISurfTooMuch
"A better question is what this outfit plans to do with the company once this deal is done"

They plan to become patent trolls.
mr weather
Premium Member
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON

mr weather

Premium Member

Re: So who is Fairfax?

"They plan to become patent trolls."

Don't hate the player.

spenster
join:2001-04-03
Houston, TX

spenster to battleop

Member

to battleop
Bingo
brianiscool
join:2000-08-16
Tampa, FL

brianiscool to ISurfTooMuch

Member

to ISurfTooMuch
They are going to liquidate everything and then sell the phone OS.
jc10098
join:2002-04-10

jc10098 to ISurfTooMuch

Member

to ISurfTooMuch
Chop blocking patents and technology can prove lucrative.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

said by FFH5:

So who is Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited ?

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fa ··· inancial

Besides Fairfax, looks like other members of the consortium will be pension plans:
»online.wsj.com/article/S ··· 478.html

BlackBerry didn't say who, apart from Fairfax, would take part in the consortium, but according to people familiar with the matter, Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan could take part.

Canadian pension funds will likely be involved in the deal, Fairfax Chairman and Chief Executive Prem Watsa told the Wall Street Journal Monday, without providing specifics.

I wonder if the Ontario teachers like this development?
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

rep?

lower than Sony? probably..

This is even more true today then when the rash of muggings happen. Not even thieves want your blackberry-- yet some fools will pay 4.7 billion dollars for this company?!? Insane

»www.theatlanticwire.com/ ··· y/45997/

tmh
@119.225.221.x

tmh

Anon

So who's Blackberry?

And what can they offer in this day and age?
markf
join:2008-01-24
Scarborough, ON

markf

Member

Re: So who's Blackberry?

This is the fundamental problem.

The BlackBerry OS of 2008 is not the BlackBerry OS of 2013.

BlackBerry 10 is actually a very smooth, quick and responsive OS that can compete if given a chance against the big guys and dare I say beat them.

Unfortunately current management has made a complete mess of the BB10 rollout. With the right management in place, BlackBerry can be saved.

Hopefully those written down phones end up in consumers hands and people can see what BB10 is all about. Having used both Android and iOS devices frequently and recently, I still think that BlackBerry Hub has no equal out there, with quick swipe access.

Fairfax needs to slash prices on the Q5 ($0 on contract, $200 or less off contract) and the Z10 (similar pricing to Q5) and get BB10 moving. They're not dead yet, but if Fairfax has no wiggle room left to execute a comeback.

Watsa, a key player in Fairfax, is down hundreds of millions on BB, so he needs to pull them up to get his money back. I'm not sure chopping them up will do it.

A lot of people bash BB without experiencing what they have to offer. BB needs to change this perception to have a chance.
ADL
join:2000-12-20
USA

ADL

Member

Re: So who's Blackberry?

BB10 was DOA.

They should have just built on-top of Android with Blackberry services instead of Google services.
amonster
join:2013-09-05

amonster

Member

Re: So who's Blackberry?

That probably wouldn't have saved them, but it would certainly have drawn out the death process a lot longer.

It would have worked in the short term, because it would have maintained compatibility with their legacy cruft.

It would have failed in the long term, because once everybody is on Android, the RIM legacy cruft would serve no purpose.

"blackberry services" don't do anything that you can't do with alternative/superior services (including google). All they really do is tie you to their unreliable infrastructure.

Seriously... all they offered was BBM and push email delivery. BBM doesn't do anything that you can't do with Google Hangouts, which is present on many many more devices than BBM, forcing BB users to comply. And their push email delivery was a thoroughly rotten system that did nothing besides add an additional security risk and point of failure to what can be done with **ANY STANDARD IMAP SERVER**.