RIM to sell itself, looking directly at Samsung to do so? [Updated]
Oh, man! If this new report is true, we're likely to see RIM and its products, arguably a company and mobile devices that wrote the playbook on what an enterprise-centric device is, disappear into thin air. It seems that RIM wants to sell itself, and it's in talks with Samsung to make that sale happen.
However, as much as RIM's portfolio of stuff is worth, it might be a tough sell. The Waterloo, Ontario, company is allegedly seeking a massive buyout price of at the very least $10 billion, but it's asking even more from Samsung: $12 to $15 billion. For you business folk, that turns out to be between $22.90 and $28.60 per share.
Currently, RIM's market capitalization is way under those previous numbers, at roughly $8.5 billion; therefore, analysts expect the actual deal, if both RIM and [insert name of interested smartphone manufacturer here] can agree, to be even less than that.
I hate to see a company go, but given RIM's performance in terms of compelling devices and technologies over the past few years, I can't say I didn't see it coming. For the company's sake, I hope it has a few more tricks up its sleeve that it can pull out and dazzle consumers with.
Update: Well, it's not going to be Samsung that is the purchaser, although there a possibility that RIM is still for sale.
[BGR | The Verge]
