Samsung In Talks To Acquire BlackBerry For $7.5 Billion

Samsung is reportedly in talks with BlackBerry on a $7.5 billion deal, even though spokespeople at Seoul and Ontario both claim no talks are presently happening.

First reported by Reuters, Samsung is interested in BlackBerry’s rather lucrative enterprise patents, which Samsung could use in patent battles against Apple, IBM and any other enterprise company looking to lock them out the battle.

Both Samsung and BlackBerry have enterprise level applications, although BlackBerry (formerly RIM) also has patents regarding networking, wireless equipment and hardware, something Samsung lacks.

The acquisition would give Samsung control of a high-profile messaging app, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), something the South Korean giant has reportedly been searching for since late-2014.

BlackBerry has an excellent selection of enterprise applications and services, and should Samsung acquire the company it will integrate these services into the KNOX security platform, built specifically for business customers.

Samsung will also grab hold of the Passport, Classic and other smartphone brands, which might be useful in the business market where the Galaxy S5 and Note 4 are not extremely popular.

The move reminds us of a very similar move by Google in 2011 for Motorola Mobility’s patents, only to find out it had spent $12.5 billion on cheap patents and a company running at an operating loss. It sold the mobile division to Lenovo in 2014 for $2.91 billion, allowing Lenovo a path into the U.S. mobile market.

BlackBerry might become more than just a patent company if Samsung acquires it, but the number is $7.5 billion, almost 50 percent over the stock price for the Canadian based smartphone manufacturer currently.

Stock rose to a third of the original price when hearing news about a Samsung takeover, but quickly dipped following denials from both companies. It is not the first time Samsung has been linked to a BlackBerry sale, but before the new CEO Jon Chen, Samsung could not agree to a price.

Lenovo was another potential BlackBerry buyer back in 2014, but things did not work out between the two companies.