Microsoft in Early Stages of BlackBerry Takeover

The original source of the rumor that Microsoft is considering a BlackBerry buyout has added new fuel to the rumor.

BlackBerry has a new phone out with the BlackBerry Leap and the BlackBerry Passport seems to have a lot of enthusiastic fans. Still the Canadian smartphone maker is still in a turn-around situation led by CEO John Chen.

BlackBerry fell from market dominator to after thought in 5 years. A new book from the Mike Lazaridis, the founder and vice chairman of BlackBerry showcased the downfall triggered by the introduction of the Apple iPhone.

While Chen managed to cut the annual loss dramatically this year, the rumors of a buyout are flying high. Several companies are said to be interested in BlackBerry including Samsung, Lenovo, Huawei, Xiaomi and Microsoft. 

The Microsoft rumor got sparked by a post by Ben Harrington on his market rumor blog Betaville back on /4/15. Back then he qualified the rumor “RARE.” RARE means that the information is unproven market gossip. In a new post, Harrington “De-RARED” the Microsoft BlackBerry rumor. He believes now that Microsoft is indeed in early stages of looking into buying BlackBerry.

He spoke to what he calls decent sources and he believes now that Microsoft’s bankers at Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are looking into a potential Microsoft buyout of BlackBerry.

This could though just be business as usual. A company like Microsoft should be ready to jump on takeover opportunities like BlackBerry. Microsoft is on the verge to finally make an impact on the smartphone market with Windows 10. The company still struggles since the Nokia take-over to gain any significance. BlackBerry would not help and Microsoft likely would shut the company down and integrate the useful bits and pieces into its mobile phone business. Microsoft would also get their hands on BlackBerry’s valuable patent portfolio.