BlackBerry announced on September 23th that it had reached a $4.7 billion deal with Prem Wasta and his firm, Fairfax Financial, who want to take the business private.

This transaction is said to be a good thing for BlackBerry because it buys time for BlackBerry to fix itself while staying off the media. The company will still exist in the same form but no longer has to issue quarterly reports, layoffs, or compensation. They will be able to go silent and hide negative financial results while they work towards a long term comeback.

However, I don’t think a go-private transaction would take the business to a much better state. Even though going private would give BlackBerry some time to breath, it will not help the company execute on its strategy any better than being public would. The company will operate in the same way whether they got the media’s attention. Besides, getting a transaction share is not like they are getting a big injection of money, which would greatly recover the company’s finance. However, I do wish the best for BlackBerry and hope it can get back up and compete again.

 

 

Resources:

1. The Economist: Time For Plan Z

2. The Globe and Mail: BlackBerry weighing privatization

3. Reuters

4. The Week: Out of it’s misery-BlackBerry considers going private