RIM’s CEO hints at possible sale or licensing of the Blackberry platform

With RIM expected to post a surprise operating loss, we guess we weren’t too surprised to learn that the company is reportedly looking to sell themselves, or at least parts of themselves off. This was apparently confirmed in a letter sent to investors by the company’s CEO himself, Thorsten Heins. According to the letter, RIM has contacted bankers J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets in assisting them to review its financial stability and goals, along with the possibility that the company itself, or at least parts of it, could be put up for sale.

“To further enhance our commitment to successfully completing our transformation, after the release of our year-end financial results, we engaged J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital Markets to assist the Company and our Board of Directors in reviewing RIM’s business and financial performance.  These advisors have been tasked to help us with the strategic review we referenced on our year-end financial results conference call and to evaluate the relative merits and feasibility of various financial strategies, including opportunities to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives.”

This is not the first time that we’ve heard talk about RIM looking to either sell themselves off or to license its Blackberry platform (although it seems that BBM could remain as a Blackberry exclusive for now), but this is the first time we’ve heard/read an official acknowledgement on the matter. It is still unclear as to whether the company’s upcoming Blackberry 10 platform and its accompanying devices will be able to turn their troubles around, so we guess we will have to wait and see.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: BlackBerry, RIM