[onvisa]

Has anyone read Bloomberg article "BlackBerry Rare Breakup Fee Seen Deterring Bids: Real M&A"?
Do we have incompetent board members?
Why did elect these people.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...-real-m-a.html

[shahyaz]

Link to article?

[onvisa]

BlackBerry Rare Breakup Fee Seen Deterring Bids: Real M&A - Bloomberg

[heymaggie]

BlackBerry Rare Breakup Fee Seen Deterring Bids: Real M&A - Bloomberg

$0.30 per share probably isn't going to deter anyone who really wants the company but added on to the fact that: 1) You're essentially bidding against an insider that was just on the Board a few weeks ago and must have a ton more info; 2) The Canadian government thing; 3) Other government clients that might not be happy about a non-Canadian acquirer of the smartphone network.

Finally, the likelihood that the assets of Blackberry will be auctioned off at some point in the near future without having to worry about the baggage that comes along with the smartphone business.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Seen against the infor we have from the ER... it doesn't make sense. But given that we don't have all the info from this last quarter of projection for the next, and that BlackBerry has been looking for a buyer for over a year. These fees might be a sign of just how desperate the BoD is.

[OzarkaTexile]

Here's a different thought. Thor floats that the company is looking for buyers. Weeks go by with no takers. Prem decides to generate interest by making an offer. If he can get enough investors to join him, then it mitigates his risk. If other buyers can put together a better deal, he loses nothing. But no one else has expressed interest, at least publicly.

The Prem Watsa deal is the floor, and right now it has no support. Without that floor, BBRY is destined for liquidation. There are plenty of buyers for liquidated assets, but no one wants the company as an operating entity.

On the plus side, Thor may not get his golden bonus after all.

[fin2007]

Seen against the infor we have from the ER... it doesn't make sense. But given that we don't have all the info from this last quarter of projection for the next, and that BlackBerry has been looking for a buyer for over a year. These fees might be a sign of just how desperate the BoD is.

This kind of breakup fee is normal, The real fishy thing is if there is no breakup fee for bbry from fairfax if it walks away.

That tells the BoD could hardly get an offer from anyone yet.

[fin2007]

Here's a different thought. Thor floats that the company is looking for buyers. Weeks go by with no takers. Prem decides to generate interest by making an offer. If he can get enough investors to join him, then it mitigates his risk. If other buyers can put together a better deal, he loses nothing. But no one else has expressed interest, at least publicly.

The Prem Watsa deal is the floor, and right now it has no support. Without that floor, BBRY is destined for liquidation. There are plenty of buyers for liquidated assets, but no one wants the company as an operating entity.

On the plus side, Thor may not get his golden bonus after all.

Except all the dooms, I do not think PW could lose anything at $9 a share.

At worst he cut most of the people and let the service dept running for several years and continue sell the phones in 2-4M units per quarter.

The non-sayers really underestimate BBRY's patents a lot, if PW put bbry' patents on market for now, he can easily grab 2-3B by any measure.

[mset]

The Prem Watsa deal is the floor

If by this you mean that his $9/share offer is now the lowest the company will be sold for, you're wrong. It could easily go for less.

[mset]

Except all the dooms, I do not think PW could lose anything at $9 a share.

At worst he cut most of the people and let the service dept running for several years and continue sell the phones in 2-4M units per quarter.

I'm not sure how many more times this needs to be said, but the statement above is totally innacurate.

The day the acquirer gets the keys, he starts bleeding cash. It takes time to negotiate severance. You can't just magically 'cut most of the people'. That's not the way it works.

'Several years'?? The service deparrtment? What does this even mean? How do you see this as being a significant profit centre for the firm? They're not going to be selling anything after the Z10!! Do you mean legacy devices? All over the world? So they keep their depots open in every country?

There is no way of knowing how much it will cost to get the firm out of its agreements with its contractors.

This firm is losing money and that isn't going to magically stop the day the deal is done. He could easily lose a lot of money if he buys at $9/share

[OzarkaTexile]

Except all the dooms, I do not think PW could lose anything at $9 a share.

At worst he cut most of the people and let the service dept running for several years and continue sell the phones in 2-4M units per quarter.

The non-sayers really underestimate BBRY's patents a lot, if PW put bbry' patents on market for now, he can easily grab 2-3B by any measure.

BBRY is not selling 2-4m phones per quarter now. I don't think that's a reasonable target after they cut most of their staff. And I think you are overestimating the value of the patents.

If BBRY is worth so much, why no buyers?

[OzarkaTexile]

If by this you mean that his $9/share offer is now the lowest the company will be sold for, you're wrong. It could easily go for less.

You're correct. BBRY could go for much lower or nothing at all.

Maybe a better way to put it is $9 is PW's attempt at a floor.