[Bilaal]

Chen better start war. BlackBerry needs to get its hands dirty. They always play the goody good guys like a bunch of nerds trying to threaten people with their security and enterprise.

[filmgirl]

I sure hope they are drawing up a partnership with Lenovo for the hardware side right now.... I see this as incompetence by the BOD.

Why would they not let the buying process play out? Why not let Prem fail and die on his word? That could have started the bidding. The shareholders would still have a chance to say no to $9. Everyone knew the stock would tank if the Prem bid didn't go through. What a disaster. Those board directors have pummelled the company.

No one else showed up to bid and the financial media was right (AGAIN) in reporting that FF couldn't secure the rest of the buyout funds. So time for plan B (or plan F if we're being more accurate), FF and a consortium do an unsecured loan at $1b and 6% in hopes that a smaller BB can end up surviving.




Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

[silversun10]

Another "what's the significance" question from me...

Ignoring all else that could change, if Fairfax ultimately converts its 25% of this extra 16% of the current float (i.e. its share of the $1B), then it would own about 12% of the company, i.e. over the 10% limit. I've never been entirely clear on what that 10% limit represents... but what would them owning 12% likely do in that situation?

right on, he is getting around that limit.

[OzarkaTexile]

Headline: "Someone invests another $250M in BlackBerry."

Your response: "Oh no! That's terrible news!"

See anything wrong with that scenario?

Headline: "Last ditch effort to take Blackberry private fails when investor can't raise capital."

Your response: "Great news!"

See anything wrong with that scenario?

Capital is extremely cheap right now, yet FF can't raise funding. The only logical conclusion is that investors believed $9 was too high. So PW bails on the deal, something he has claimed never to have done before, and buys into a 6% loan. Now BBRY has expensive debt (though not much) and a new CEO.

The only possible positive spin on this is that TH is out. That's likely a good thing.

[Shanerredflag]

They lend BBRY 1B at 6.0 %, a very high rate. If the stock price gets above 10, they have the right to convert their bonds into shares paying only 10 per and keeping the profit and diluting the current shareholders. Basically they get a very nice return (unsecured though) with a potential upside if the shares get above $10. This is a classic Warren Buffet deal structure but he bet on GS and other more stable companies when he did it.

Lol...I had an economics teacher a million years ago who defied us to find something truly new in our then current economy...stating everything is repackaged, respun or simply improved hard goods or services.

Point is...this PW deal is pretty similar to WB and also what PW did with the Bank of Ireland.

Posted via CB10

[Corbu]

I wonder what Mike L. is thinking about all of this...

[Soumaila Somtore]

Shorts covering maybe.

Stock price seems ever so climbing back up. We are now at $6.71, down 13.16%

Better than the 20% and beyond earlier on, I must say.

[OMGitworks]

I wonder what Mike L. is thinking about all of this...

"Why the hell did I buy more shares last month"????

[Randeman]

This is the kind of deal Warren makes all the time. (Although, not in a company like BlackBerry) And, Prem is the Canadian Warren Buffet. Normally, these WB deals are seen as good news for companies.
Maybe the new CEO will make his first speech later today, announcing 40 million xBBM users. Wouldn't that be nice. I suppose our newest shorters, effective today, are hedging their bets.

[jmehta22]

hate to say this but....the shorts win again

[cjcampbell]

No one else showed up to bid and the financial media was right (AGAIN) in reporting that FF couldn't secure the rest of the buyout funds. So time for plan B (or plan F if we're being more accurate), FF and a consortium do an unsecured loan at $1b and 6% in hopes that a smaller BB can end up surviving.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

This is but one way of looking at it. Another, and not the only other, is that during their chats with Chen, they decided this was a better move to take for the long run. It's not like they called him up this morning and said "sooooo.... would you be interested in....".

[spiller]

whats the news...that is coming back fast.

Is someone buying it all up down there so they are closer to a hostile takeover...

[Superfly_FR]

If nothing else, it gives them a longer runway (apparently much needed, to get this heavy beast off the ground).

That has to count in terms of customer perception. Think of it as buying the confidence of corporate clients that there are people willing to shore up the company for the long term, so they (the customers) can safely invest in moving up to BES10 and BB10. This is still consistent with Prem's long-term horizon on all this... he's putting (more) money where his mouth is.

Hey Prem : welcome to the club : you support BlackBerry and you buy BBRY shares.
Gang : fire your vote !
http://forums.crackberry.com/bbry-f3...airman-869528/

[morlock_man]

The headline you won't see today:

CHINA AND CANADA INVEST IN BBRY TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE SECURITY AGAINST US SPYING EFFORTS

[Shanerredflag]

The headline you won't see today:

CHINA AND CANADA INVEST IN BBRY TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE SECURITY AGAINST US SPYING EFFORTS

LOL

Posted via CB10

[Superfly_FR]

No one else showed up to bid and the financial media was right (AGAIN) in reporting that FF couldn't secure the rest of the buyout funds. So time for plan B (or plan F if we're being more accurate), FF and a consortium do an unsecured loan at $1b and 6% in hopes that a smaller BB can end up surviving.

Prem is basically playing the role of an equity partner. This has been considered many times here as an possible alternative.
Must say Prem wasn't the name we had in mind, but the situation also changed drastically with BBM-x launch success.
We may see others (and let's see who actually joined the "alliance").
I for one loves this scenario.

[Randeman]

Well, we seemed to have solved the low volume issue.

[the_sleuth]

Prem Watsa and BOD ukered small investors today. Will Ceberus or Lenovo make a hostile bid at this SP level?

Sent from my HTC One X+ using CB Forums mobile app

[greggebhardt]

Lol...oh my.

Posted via CB10

But then I could be wrong.

Not

[danprown]

The current deal does not preclude any other bid.

However, PW seems to have a stranglehold now, since without his shares, a bid is unlikely to go over 90% during the first step, so a subsequent transaction and approval must be effected where he again will play center stage. Are the complications likely to deter anyone going through the trouble? We also have the wild card national security review hanging there which clouds a decision for non-canadians.

If PW can't come up with the money, I doubt Mike L can. It sure looks like he has ruined the company by staffing the board with figureheads, underestimating Apple, overestimating keyboards, opening BBM and BIS to crackpot dictators without handling it in the media, driving Jim B out, installing Heins...

[W Hoa]

I'm a bit confused. Did they say they are ending all strategic alternatives or just the sale of the company?

I say this will John Chen as CEO and his connection to Silver Lake...

Today's announcement marks the conclusion of the review of strategic alternatives previously announced on August 12, 2013.

[silversun10]

The current deal does not preclude any other bid.

However, PW seems to have a stranglehold now, since without his shares, a bid is unlikely to go over 90% during the first step, so a subsequent transaction and approval must be effected where he again will play center stage. Are the complications likely to deter anyone going through the trouble? We also have the wild card national security review hanging there which clouds a decision for non-canadians.

If PW can't come up with the money, I doubt Mike L can. It sure looks like he has ruined the company by staffing the board with figureheads, underestimating Apple, overestimating keyboards, opening BBM and BIS to crackpot dictators without handling it in the media, driving Jim B out, installing Heins...

with his new lot of conv debt PW can at any time jump over the 10% limit by converting his debt into shares. so, once all of this is done PW will have a veto over any deal...

[Superfly_FR]

watch it : Special Edition Podcast: CrackBerry talks November 4th news | CrackBerry.com

[Shanerredflag]

But then I could be wrong.

Not

Lol...little touchy are we?

Posted via CB10

[peter9477]

Headline: "Last ditch effort to take Blackberry private fails when investor can't raise capital."

Your response: "Great news!"

See anything wrong with that scenario?

Yes, I do. I see you making a headline that contains value judgements, whereas mine was neutral and factual. Try again with a neutral statement and marvel at the difference.