The news that foundering smartphone maker BlackBerry is going to be taken private by one of its largest shareholders has made big waves across the technology and business communities alike. If you're struggling to get up to speed on the news, here's a quick primer to help you along:
Why go private now?
Prem Watsa
Most readers probably know that BlackBerry, formerly Research In Motion, has been taking a beating in the smartphone market for years now. The company's efforts at revitalization, which included the rebranding and the launch of BB 10 OS, have failed to undo the huge market share losses incurred by the success of the iPhone and numerous Android-based competitors.
While it's been looking bad for a while, the pace of unsettling news coming out of the Canadian company has ratcheted up sharply of late. BlackBerry's announcement last week that it expected to post a billion-dollar loss for the last fiscal quarter coupled with the simultaneous news that it would be laying off 4500 workers, or 40 percent of its total workforce completed the picture of a business circling the drain.
Who's Fairfax Financial?
Fairfax Financial is Prem Watsa, an Indian-born investor who frequently gets referred to as the Warren Buffet of Canada. He's been a major BlackBerry shareholder for some time owning upwards of 10 percent of the firm's shares, and sat on the company's board until very recently (a move that prompted immediate speculation that he intended to buy the company).
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon