[savingblackberry]

Why not unleash value of this asset as a separately publicly traded independent company with backing from one or more well known VC/financier? BBM will thrive as an independent company, Newco management will be totally focused on BBM and not influenced by whats good for other parts of BlackBerry.

Also, this sheds Blackberry in a whole new light, shorts run away, no more bashing and other parts of Blackberry may flourish and do better.

New co in no hurry to generate revenues/profits as is now when part of larger Blackberry. Competiting OSes wont view BBM as threatening since it is independent of Blackberry now.

BBM (Newco) over time can flourish to be a great company and have valuation approaching whatsapp over time... and perhaps more no matter what happens to rest of BlackBerry.

Too many companies have died...palm, novell, wang, dec but taking an asset out and unleashing that value to shareholders is the right and smart thing to do.

Not doing so in my mind is criminally negligent at worst, and at best very dumb and tainted... and I wonder if there is someone with a hidden agenda who will take other public shareholders for a big ride? or is it Chen's ego that he wants to be the CEO of every part of Blackberry? Chen said at time of Whatsapp purchase that if someone offered him $19 bil for BBM, he will sell BBM so why not spin-off? Sometimes I wonder if someone on the inside is on the payroll of a competitor or short-sellers who does not want the stock to go up.

BBRY shareholders have gotten the shaft, about time Chen and his team look after this constituency.

SPINOFF BBM now. Email me for a very detailed plan.

[diegonei]

The BBM team already works like a pretty much independent unit. IF needed be, they can turn it into a separate company

IF. NEEDED. BE.

The time for such talks has not come.

[dbmalloy]

Would not seem to make much sense... seeing the lead the competitors have over BBM.... most divisions are spun off independently for purely financial reasons... BB needs all its potentially profitable parts right now... why we see the device division still here is it is making money.. BBM at this point has not shown it can even make a profit.... next couple of quarters will tell that tale... As for stock holder... as the market is already rigged.. what actual stockholder benefit would there be.. the chant would be break up the entire company ... sell the profitable divisions and fold the rest.. this is the scenario in the short term that would make the stock holders a better return on their dollar... but Blackberry would cease to exist... bottom line... you only spin off a division if you can show it makes money... we do not know if BBM can even be successfully monetized....

[RubberChicken76]

CrackBerry - the land of melodramatic thread titles ...

[savingblackberry]

I am so sick of hearing time of such has not come.. i heard the same thing about going cross platform. There is a reason why Canadian companies though great in tech get beaten in market because of their lethargy and not responding to market conditions. THIS is the RIGHT time.
Very simple:
Make BBM totally independent with own P/L and proper appropriations of costs
Get a big name investor like Kleiner or even a big hedge fund to put 500 Mil in exhange for lets say X% of that unit only
Use money to grow subscriber base and features
3-6 months go public, and the same investors buy some shares at IPO as well to give support
BBRY shareholders will get at least some value.

PS: Cant stand these apologists for inept BBRY management and BOD, guys like you were supporting Mike, Jim and Heins when they were making colossal mistakes.

It is so asinine to say NEEDED BE? what proof do you want? Whatsapp at $19 bil, snapchat now $20 bil and all of Blackberry at $4billiion (ex net cash)

No sir/madam, this is the time to spin off, as in tomorrow... or better today

The BBM team already works like a pretty much independent unit. IF needed be, they can turn it into a separate company

IF. NEEDED. BE.

The time for such talks has not come.

[savingblackberry]

Well its real business dear sir/madam, its about unleash value for shareholders, BBRY should not be about a fan forum but real business.
remember what happened to palm? Novell? Nortel? DEC? wang?
Let shareholders get some value from BBM NOW.

CrackBerry - the land of melodramatic thread titles ...

[sentimentGX4]

I genuinely do not think that anyone inside Blackberry, from John Chen to the board of directors, or any large institutional investors believe BBM to be worth billions of dollars as a public traded company. If any believed this to be true, Blackberry would not hesitate to spin off BBM, which is a rather periphery product, from the rest of the company. The problem with your value assessment, is that BBM is much smaller than competitors and does not appear to be growing.

Furthermore, note that none of the competitors worth billions of dollars you named were ever a publicly traded company. The means by which they attained their valuations was that they were approached by private parties. What does this mean for BBM? It means that a private party may approach Blackberry to similarly purchase BBM for a lump sum if interested. Spinning off the company is irrelevant in unlocking value.

More importantly, it must be understood that he market valuation dynamics of publicly traded and private companies are radically different. There is no evidence that Whatsapp would be worth $19 billion on a stock exchange and there is no guarantee that Snapchat is actually worth $20 billion. Private equity has a tendency to grossly overpay (as well as cash in on deals). Since most regard these apps to have bubblish valuations, it is likely that a public traded Snapchat would be worth a fraction of $20 billion and a public traded BBM a fraction of that.

Finally, you must consider BBM's viability as an independent company. How much earnings and revenue does BBM have? How much will operations, R&D, etc. cost? How much seed money does it need? What resources must BBRY provide to BBM before spinning it off? What you're asking for could be a death sentence for BBM.

All in all, I think there are too many inherent risks to spinning off BBM. If private equity firm thinks BBM is worth billions of dollars, the option is still there for them to make a offer.

[howarmat]

Well its real business dear sir/madam, its about unleash value for shareholders, BBRY should not be about a fan forum but real business.
remember what happened to palm? Novell? Nortel? DEC? wang?
Let shareholders get some value from BBM NOW.

and yet you think that Crackberry should be "real business" by the 100s of thread you have created about your displeasure with how the company is run.

[RubberChicken76]

Well its real business dear sir/madam, its about unleash value for shareholders, BBRY should not be about a fan forum but real business.
remember what happened to palm? Novell? Nortel? DEC? wang?
Let shareholders get some value from BBM NOW.

Send resume to the board of directors at BlackBerry. Tell them that you want that chump Chen to get out of your chair, that you will step down from leading the successes of your multi billion dollar corporations in order to guide BlackBerry to greatness.

[THBW]

There are times when spinning assets into new entities is valuable. This is not one of them. Your understanding of how an asset like BBM is being used by the parent company is naive.

Posted via CB10

[savingblackberry]

Instead of sarcasm, it will behoove you to think a little? If all CEOs were so great wy so many companies go out of business? Or even our beloved BlackBerry fell so much? BBRY was worth more than Apple at one point, now Apple worth 200 times BlackBerry

Send resume to the board of directors at BlackBerry. Tell them that you want that chump Chen to get out of your chair, that you will step down from leading the successes of your multi billion dollar corporations in order to guide BlackBerry to greatness.

[savingblackberry]

Yes sir, what your post has to do with anything? I didnt crackberry should be in real business, CB is just a forum, BBRY is a real business. You guiys suspeneded me for a while to speak out against Heins, Jim and Mike... I was right then and I am right now.
I advocated for Heins removal, for Roger Martin removal... and if Jim and Mike who were the smartest people at one point gave way to arrogance and destroyed everything they built.

and yet you think that Crackberry should be "real business" by the 100s of thread you have created about your displeasure with how the company is run.

[early2bed]

Given that BlackBerry hasn't touted BBM numbers very much, recently, I'm guessing the BBM's user metrics aren't so hot over the past year. There was a decent initial base of users with cross platform BBM, however, there are much deeper ways to analyze how many active users are actively engaged in the network. You only have to look at your own circle of BBM users to get an idea.

[Glenn Biddle]

Until they implement cross platform video calling, BBM will not be any where near it's potential value and I also think even then they should not spin it off. Just goes to show that yours is not the only opinion in town.

Posted via CB10

[TheBigHarvCombo]

Yes sir, what your post has to do with anything? I didnt crackberry should be in real business, CB is just a forum, BBRY is a real business. You guiys suspeneded me for a while to speak out against Heins, Jim and Mike... I was right then and I am right now.
I advocated for Heins removal, for Roger Martin removal... and if Jim and Mike who were the smartest people at one point gave way to arrogance and destroyed everything they built.

We are all terribly sorry you lost money on BBRY but ranting in these Forums isn't going to get that money back for you. Please stop with these posts.

Posted via CB10

[RubberChicken76]

Instead of sarcasm, it will behoove you to think a little? If all CEOs were so great wy so many companies go out of business? Or even our beloved BlackBerry fell so much? BBRY was worth more than Apple at one point, now Apple worth 200 times BlackBerry

To me, it's very simple. If you think you know how to save BlackBerry and are confident in your ability to deliver on that, make a case for yourself to the board of directors. Convince them that you are some legend in business at returning fallen companies to success and more qualified than the current CEO (who does have such an experience on his resume) so you can become the new lead.

Otherwise, it's just armchair CEO syndrome.

[notafanofyou]

Spinning off BBM is a must. Let the market put a value on it and force the shorts to run for cover. Saving BlackBerry is bang on.

Posted via CB10

[savingblackberry]

Exactly. Also, as separate independent company, there will be no bias for any particular OS. As an independent company, no hurry to generate revenues. Now its a cash drain on rest of BBRY. BBM newco can get a cash infusion like snapchat, whatsapp. Maybe Kliener perkins or another VC or hedge fund can put $500M-1bil in BBM for lets say 15% stake. Many other ways to structure a deal.
Once shorts are screwed, rest of BBRY business will benefit tremendously.
Makes absolutely no sense not to unleash this value for BBRY shareholders unless there is a MOLE inside Blackberry who is paid off by short-sellers and/or competitors and coming up with reasons not to unleash value.
I cannot imagine any valid reason not to spinoff BBM except someone working against BBRY shareholders and BBRY.
BBRY screwed up on not going cross platform earlier, by screwing up on China market...
BBRY does not have enough resources to fight on so many fronts and even if they did, BBM better off as separate company.

Spinning off BBM is a must. Let the market put a value on it and force the shorts to run for cover. Saving BlackBerry is bang on.

Posted via CB10

[savingblackberry]

Mr. BigHarv you are one of those, it seems who blames the victim... like for example...oh she was wearing provocative dress etc...
No Sir, I am not ranting, I am proposing something that will unleash value for shareholders... unless you think everything is just fine and dandy?

We are all terribly sorry you lost money on BBRY but ranting in these Forums isn't going to get that money back for you. Please stop with these posts.

Posted via CB10

[savingblackberry]

If Google Play dpownloads are 100 million plus then you have downloads on Blackberries, IoS and windows, so close to 225 million and then if BBM has 500mil-1 bil to increase subscriber, then we are looking at Whatsapp/snapchat like valuation.

Given that BlackBerry hasn't touted BBM numbers very much, recently, I'm guessing the BBM's user metrics aren't so hot over the past year. There was a decent initial base of users with cross platform BBM, however, there are much deeper ways to analyze how many active users are actively engaged in the network. You only have to look at your own circle of BBM users to get an idea.

[howarmat]

If Google Play dpownloads are 100 million plus then you have downloads on Blackberries, IoS and windows, so close to 225 million and then if BBM has 500mil-1 bil to increase subscriber, then we are looking at Whatsapp/snapchat like valuation.

those are downloads....not subscribers. Total active users is maybe 100 million across all platforms total

[savingblackberry]

Well, that is why if BBM is left to its own fate, it can convert downloads to active users. BBM as a newly independent company will be 100% focussed on BBM. and BBM is in no way inferior to top messaging apps.
Spinning off BBM is imperative, critical, smart, prudent and necessary.. extremely important. Not a day delayed to gather all the pieces and line up the ducks so to speak.

those are downloads....not subscribers. Total active users is maybe 100 million across all platforms total

[DaSchwantz]

Premature.

Posted via CB10

[savingblackberry]

Thats what they said about China market, cross platform... nah absolutely not... market is hot for messaging app, make hay while the sun shines.
BlackBerry always late to the game... last 7 years.

Premature.

Posted via CB10

[savingblackberry]

Maybe Watsa and his debt holders do not want a spinoff? But there is a way to structure a deal that will satisfy thye debt holders and also benefit common. and yes Chen gets to keep his 13 mil shares in BBM newco as well or whatever ratio they issue shares.

The BBM team already works like a pretty much independent unit. IF needed be, they can turn it into a separate company

IF. NEEDED. BE.

The time for such talks has not come.