9 ms·

just speculating but... - Microsoft is the natural buyer - for patents and to migrate users to Windows Phone with Blackberry Messenger and BES, don't really s

just speculating but... - Microsoft is the natural buyer - for patents and to migrate users to Windows Phone with Blackberry Messenger and BES, don't really see anyone else who wants into this business v. Google and Apple, plus of course the enterprise users are all Exchange, rather keep in-house than cede to Apple and Google - Board decided to sell. Prem Watsa is a big investor, he put out a maybe-not-that-serious $9 per share bid as a stalking horse - Management did a road show to get a bidding war going (supposedly met with Facebook... you really think Zuck has time for this? probably just weak-ass psy ops v. Ballmer and Elop) - No bite at whatever they were asking, presumably $10+ - For his trouble Watsa picks up some cheap $10 options on ~16% of the company - According to Yahoo, they have $4.50 in cash, last price $7, enterprise value < $2b at current share price - Gotta think at that price Microsoft could buy it in a sec - Sort of sounds like Watsa saying we got plenty of cash, you gotta pay me at least $10 to go away. - Not really sure what leverage Watsa and management have if someone decides to go hostile, proxy fight , but that's unusual in tech, nobody really wants that drama

robk 13y ago
Seems a pretty risky bargain for Prem to put $250m at risk with their cash pile dwindling day by day and likely costs of shutting down various parts of the business. If I were a buyer I'd be just sitting and waiting for them to get more and more desperate.
- RockyMcNuts 13y ago
  clearly, the buyer(s) is/are waiting for them to get more desperate. but Watsa gets paid before stockholders, company has $2.3b in cash per Yahoo Finance. Might have costs in laying off/shutting down, but also have assets and income streams. Not clear they are hemorrhaging cash, they lay off employees, stop investing, they stem the bleeding. Google Finance has good cash flow charts - https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3ABBRY&fstype=ii&ei=WdZ3UuDaAYy0lwOa8QE https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3ABBRY&fstype=ii&ei=... Believe it or not... not all companies need to constantly raise funds or go out of business... legacy companies have positive cash flows. Prem's momma didn't raise no fool.

robk 13y ago

Seems a pretty risky bargain for Prem to put $250m at risk with their cash pile dwindling day by day and likely costs of shutting down various parts of the business. If I were a buyer I'd be just sitting and waiting for them to get more and more desperate.

RockyMcNuts 13y ago
clearly, the buyer(s) is/are waiting for them to get more desperate. but Watsa gets paid before stockholders, company has $2.3b in cash per Yahoo Finance. Might have costs in laying off/shutting down, but also have assets and income streams. Not clear they are hemorrhaging cash, they lay off employees, stop investing, they stem the bleeding. Google Finance has good cash flow charts - https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3ABBRY&fstype=ii&ei=WdZ3UuDaAYy0lwOa8QE https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3ABBRY&fstype=ii&ei=... Believe it or not... not all companies need to constantly raise funds or go out of business... legacy companies have positive cash flows. Prem's momma didn't raise no fool.