[W Hoa]

By David Benoit

Research in Motion’s addictive BlackBerrys cause users to spasm in reaction to a blinking red light.

Reuters

Investors in the stock seem to react the same way to any news about a deal for the company.

The stock Thursday touched a 52-week high of $18.32, nearly triple the low it hit only four months ago. It then quickly gave back part of that gain, and is now up 3.4% to $17.93 in recent trading.

The most recent spurt up and down appears to be fueled by, what else, but chatter about it being bought, coming from the slopes of Davos.

The CFO of Lenovo Group told Bloomberg that it was “looking at all opportunities — RIM and many others” and that “We’ll have no hesitation if the right opportunity comes along that could benefit us and shareholders.”

RIM shares are now up 13% this week after getting an earlier boost this week from CEO Thorsten Heins telling a German publication he continues to consider options including licensing software and maybe selling the hardware unit.

Last year, the stock even jumped when RIM announced a licensing deal, except the deal was RIM licensing Microsoft’s technology, not exactly all that exciting.

The rest of the article is by subscription, sorry, don't have one.

RIM Investors Suffer ‘CrackBerry’ Like Reactions to More Deal Talk - Deal Journal - WSJ

[mrfreetruth]

I think its the shorts who are suffering a reaction in the SP and looking for a reason to knock it down. They are trapped and hurting and we all know why. Hedge funds are in a Long AAPL and Short RIMM trade using margin and they are getting killed as AAPL crashes back to reality and RIMM jump back up to reality.

[advcomputer]

Canandian Govt along with the US Regulators would NOT let a Lenovo transaction happen even if that was in the cards.

[Davey Rodgers]

Canandian Govt along with the US Regulators would NOT let a Lenovo transaction happen even if that was in the cards.

I'm naive on international commerce. How can US Regulators get involved in a Canadian company?

[mrfreetruth]

RIM is so valuable and precious to the US and Canadian governments we all know they wouldn't want to sell RIM at any price. RIM is grossly undervaued and EVERYONE knows it.

[jefftam68]

With just about every US and Canadian and British government issued cell phone being a BlackBerry, it's difficult to conceive anyone letting the Chinese buy RIM.

[donmateo]

I'm naive on international commerce. How can US Regulators get involved in a Canadian company?

With just about every US and Canadian and British government issued cell phone being a BlackBerry, it's difficult to conceive anyone letting the Chinese buy RIM.

This. Security concerns. We can't even trust the Chinese as is, letting them buy out one of, if not, the most secure phones out there would be more than a travesty. Both governments are allied in many ways, this would not be an option for either, IMO.

[Geeoff]

I'm naive on international commerce. How can US Regulators get involved in a Canadian company?

I agree that US regulators could not stop it directly, but there is no way the US government would still work closely with Blackberry if a Chinese company owned them. Blackberry is too embedded in confidential US government affairs.

The Canadian government would also not want a Chinese company owning RIM for similar reasons. There is absolutely no doubt that the Canadian government would immediately Kay-bosh (sp?) this.

[md03wx]

I agree that US regulators could not stop it directly, but there is no way the US government would still work closely with Blackberry if a Chinese company owned them. Blackberry is too embedded in confidential US government affairs.

The Canadian government would also not want a Chinese company owning RIM for similar reasons. There is absolutely no doubt that the Canadian government would immediately Kay-bosh (sp?) this.

There are RIM assets and infrastructure in the US as well... and obviously the Canadian government would listen to the US about their security concerns of an outright sale (even if they US has no direct say).

[jefftam68]

There are RIM assets and infrastructure in the US as well... and obviously the Canadian government would listen to the US about their security concerns of an outright sale (even if they US has no direct say).

They might have a direct say if they say, "We'll nuke your *** off the map if you do that".

[JR A]

Canada can not afford to lose US or UK support.

Canadian government allowing the sale of the US and UK's trusted mobile security solution is like your best friend giving your ex-girlfriend/boyfriend the password to all your facebook and twitter accounts (and bank accounts for good measure) and you knowing about it.

Sure, you might change all your passwords and such before your ex has the chance to do some damage, but now you have to go through the hassle of changing things, cancelling transactions, getting new debit/credit cards issued, explaining to everyone on FB and Twitter that those self incriminating comments and pictures were not actually you, etc., and most of all you lose trust with your best friend.

The US and UK will figure out another solution if they couldn't trust BlackBerry/NOC in the hands of Chinese. But the transition to something else wouldn't be pleasant, and US/UK government would be giving Canada the "WTF?!" look.

[Shanerredflag]

They might have a direct say if they say, "We'll nuke your *** off the map if you do that".

NEVER...would wipe out the maple syrup for everyones breakfast :0