RIM considers splitting business in two: paper
Research in Motion Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins is silhouetted during the BlackBerry World event in Orlando May 1, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/David Manning
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - BlackBerry maker Research in Motion RIM.TO is considering splitting its business in two, separating its struggling handset manufacturing division from its messaging network, The Sunday Times reported.
RIM, which last month said it had hired JP Morgan (JPM.N) and RBC Capital (RY.TO) to look at its strategic options, could break off its handset division into a separate listed company or sell it, the British newspaper reported without citing sources.
Potential buyers would include Amazon (AMZN.O) and Facebook (FB.O), it reported, adding that RIM's messaging network could also be sold, or opened up to rivals such as Apple (AAPL.O) and Google (GOOG.O) to generate income.
An alternative option would be to keep the company together but sell a stake to a larger technology firm such as Microsoft (MSFT.O), the newspaper said.
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Catherine Evans)
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The BlackBerry is too frequently compared to say Nokia, a huge player in the old mobile PHONE market. The BlackBerry was once dominant in what was then a tiny niche market of “smartphones”. Against Darth Google it is simple dying star.
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