BlackBerry-Qualcomm Arbitration Final Award Amounts To $940 Million

It was confirmed in April this year that the arbitration between BlackBerry and Qualcomm had resulted in a settlement of the dispute. Qualcomm was ordered to pay $814 million back to BlackBerry that the latter had overpaid as royalty to the chipmaker. However, the final arbitration award has now been calculated and it’s much closer to a billion dollars than it previously was.

The final arbitration award takes into account interest and attorneys fees. They have been added to the original award of $814 million. Qualcomm now has until May 31st to pay BlackBerry a sum of $940 million. That’s just shy of a billion dollars.

Though it might seem that Qualcomm is being made to pay through the nose for this, it may have saved itself quite a bit of money by agreeing to an arbitration. Lawsuits tend to take time and companies rack up big bills for legal fees in the process. Not to mention the fact that the longer the case would have gone on, the more the interest would have been on the final amount.

The news about the final arbitration award predictably impacted Qualcomm’s stock which was down 2 percent, while BlackBerry’s stock climbed by over 2 percent to bring it to its four-year high. Then again, it has been a while since BlackBerry has scored a home run.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: BlackBerry, Qualcomm, Social Hit