[aodash]

It has been two and a half weeks since BlackBerry announced they were exploring "strategic alternatives", in which BlackBerry said that they were exploring options including taking BlackBerry private. The other options announced were partnerships and an outright sale to another company. Unfortunately, the "for sale" sign is what has garnered most of the headlines in the media. With that "for sale" sign up in front of the company, a lot of customers are going to stay away, so the sooner BlackBerry can get this uncertainty behind them, the better.

So what is going on up on Canada? Is Prem Watsa getting a group of investors together to take BlackBerry private? What is taking so long? Is he struggling to get enough capital together to make this happen?

I've gotten the impression hanging around the CrackBerry forums that a few users own BBRY shares - not just because they are looking to make a quick buck depending on which direction the stock is heading, but because they believe in the company. If Prem Watsa and a group of investors take the company private, another investor or investment group pays for the shares and they become the owners(s) of the company. But what if those users decided that rather than cashing in during an LBO, that they'd rather be part of a private BlackBerry? Everyone would have the opportunity to either be bought out, or have their shares rolled into ownership of a private BlackBerry.

The number of CrackBerry users that are also shareholders are probably pretty low, but what if we took that a step further, and created the idea of a CrackBerry investment group? Crowdsource the LBO in a sense?

I've done a little poking around and it looks like there are just over 3.875 million users registered on CrackBerry forums. I don't know how many are still active, and how many are fans versus trolls, so I'll just throw a number out there and say 65% of those users are active and passionate about BlackBerry. That would be just over 2.5 million people. If each of the 2.5 million people were to throw $100 towards this crowdsourcing effort, that would be $250 million.

Not a bad chunk of change, sure we'll need more but that is a start. And we don't know how much Prem already has lined up.

Now I'm sure many readers are balking at this. "Why would I throw $100 at owning a piece of BlackBerry?" Well, in typical crowdsourcing fashion, BlackBerry could offer an incentive. If you commit $100 in this, and we reach our goal of taking BlackBerry private, we'll give you $100 off the next BlackBerry device you buy. If you commit $200, we'll build you a limited edition Z10/Q10/Z30/etc. If you commit $500....

Sure, the company is struggling, but if you didn't believe in the product, or the potential it had, you would've moved on already. Most of us here on CrackBerry agree that despite a rough launch that BB10 is getting better, and will only continue to get better if it lives on to fight another day. The technology is there, the marketing and overall image just needs to be fixed. People want an alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly, and Windows Phone isn't it.

Your thoughts? Would you like to own a piece of a private BlackBerry?

[dworld4u]

I like the idea. I have about 5000.00

Posted via CB10

[dworld4u]

I already bought 5000.00 worth of shares. Great idea

Posted via CB10

[Bla1ze]

I'm only here cause I thought this said 'LCBO'- Welcome to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO)

[Roo Zilla]

You need a helluva lot more than $250 million to do a LBO on a $5 billion company. You'll need about $2 billion or so at a bare minimum. That's not even taking into account the premium over market price you'll have to pay to get people to tender their shares.

[aodash]

The idea wouldn't be to do it with the $250 million or so from the CrackBerry investment group alone, just as Prem Watsa isn't doing trying to do it with his money alone... the idea is that we'd be part of the group or coalition of private investors trying to make this happen.

Posted via CB10

[Roo Zilla]

Even assuming a coalition could be brought together, an LBO would probably be very difficult. Who's going to buy those bonds? At best they'd be graded junk and most likely even below that. The only way an investment bank would take on this kind of acquisition would be if bank loans were used and assets used as collateral. Most likely those would be in the form of bridge loans as the new owner sells assets to pay off the debt. Realistically, an LBO is going to be very difficult. BBRY, if taken private, will have to be purchased sans leverage.