Blackberry has finally been sold, this company has been having problems with sales for some time. Read the latest sory below.
Troubled smartphone maker BlackBerry has agreed a deal that will see it sold to a consortium led by its largest shareholder for 4.7 billion dollars (£2.85 billion).
Sales of shares in the Nasdaq-listed company, which plunged after Friday's announcement, were halted after the news of the deal which would take it private.
BlackBerry, which started in 1999, is known for the loyalty of its users, who include Barack Obama.
It carried out a high profile launch of two new handsets at the start of the year, the much delayed Z10 touchscreen and Q10 with a qwerty keyboard, which went on sale later in the year.
A new phone, the touchscreen Z30, was unveiled last week.
They were designed to see it catch up with Apple, Samsung and other smartphone makers after falling behind in terms of new technology after the launch of the iPhone in 2007.
But the new handsets failed to win over critics and sales were far below what the firm was hoping for.
Its market share in the first quarter of this year was 2.9%, according to analysts, compared to 41% in 2007.
BlackBerry said it had set up a special committee in August to look at the financial alternatives for the company in the face of its poor trading figures.
The agreement with Fairfax allows it to "go shop" for alternative offers for the firm should they become available during the due diligence process, which is expected to take until November 4.
Chairwoman Barbara Stymiest said: "The special committee is seeking the best available outcome for the Company's constituents, including for shareholders.
Importantly, the go-shop process provides an opportunity to determine if there are alternatives superior to the present proposal from the Fairfax consortium."
Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.co.uk
