Posted on 02/25/2014 4:40:34 PM PST by rickmichaels
If anyone has a cheque for US$19-billion, John Chen has a mobile instant messaging platform you can buy.
In a not-so-stunning revelation, the chief executive of BlackBerry Ltd. told a reporter from CNBC on Tuesday that if someone approached him looking to buy BlackBerry Messenger, and was willing to fork over the US$19-billion price Facebook Inc. recently shelled out for WhatsApp Inc., he would recommend that the board take the deal.
“I work for the shareholders. The standard answer, right?” Mr. Chen said.
“If somebody comes to me with $19-billion I would definitely sell it. I mean, I would recommend to the board to take it, but it all depends on what it is.”
Of course, it’s pretty unlikely that anyone is looking to buy BBM for US$19-billion, considering the popular instant messaging platform is only one division of BlackBerry, a company with a total market capitalization of US$5.63-billion.
Still, it’s clear that Mr. Chen is leaving all options on the table, even if his answer did appear somewhat tongue-in-cheek.
While BBM has seen its user base grow to more than 80 million users since BlackBerry opened the platform up to non-BlackBerry devices — namely Apple Inc.’s iPhones, as well as devices running Google Inc.’s Android and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone software — the Waterloo, Ont.-based company’s messaging service still trails WhatsApp’s 450-million strong user base by a wide margin.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.financialpost.com ...
As a Z10 user, I would prefer BlackBerry focus on selling some phones.
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