Published : Jan. 15, 2015 - 21:41
Samsung Electronics on Thursday denied media reports that it had offered to buy Canadian smartphone-maker BlackBerry for as much as $7.5 billion.
“It is not true,” a Samsung spokesperson in Seoul said, adding that the company “does not respond to rumors.”
BlackBerry, in a press release on its website, also denied the reports on the potential deal, saying it had “not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer,” declining to comment further.
News reports said earlier that the Korean tech giant was in talks with the Ontario-based handset-maker in a move to acquire valuable patents as it battles Apple in the corporate market.
The main office of Samsung Electronics in Seocho-dong, Seoul. (Yonhap)
Samsung was reported to have proposed a buyout deal to BlackBerry worth $15.49 per share, or a premium of up to 60 percent based on the company’s current share price.
Considering BlackBerry’s strength in making security software for corporate use, news reports said, Samsung may have wanted to buy its patents to boost its software power.
Amid fast saturation in the consumer market for mobile devices, Samsung has recently been attempting to make inroads into the corporate market.
This is not the first time that speculations on a possible acquisition have been raised. Similar media reports came out in early 2012, with both companies denying them.
The news emerged two months after Samsung and BlackBerry signed a high-profile security partnership in November. The deal will integrate BlackBerry’s security platform with Samsung’s own security software for its Galaxy devices.
According to news reports, BlackBerry’s patent portfolio is composed of roughly 44,000 patents, worth more than $1.43 billion in net book value as of August last year, although many analysts think they could be worth much more.
By Lee Ji-yoon and news reports
(jylee@heraldcorp.com)