Rumor: Samsung wants to buy BlackBerry for 6.4 billion euros – update

Samsung is said to have serious plans to acquire Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry. An offer of 7.5 billion dollars, converted almost 6.4 billion euros, would have been put on the table. It would be Samsung mainly to do the patent portfolio.

Talks are said to be underway between top executives at Samsung and BlackBerry, Reuters news agency sources reported. According to these sources, the talks are still ongoing, but there is already an offer from Samsung that amounts to 7.5 billion dollars, almost 6.4 billion euros. Although neither company would confirm the potential acquisition, Reuters said it has seen documents confirming the talks. Samsung and BlackBerry previously decided to work together for the business market.

According to the sources, Samsung is mainly concerned with the large patent portfolio that BlackBerry owns. This would enable the Korean company to strengthen itself in the smartphone market: many manufacturers are involved in legal conflicts, including with Apple. However, Samsung and Apple have expressed the intention to end their lawsuits against each other.

Whether BlackBerry is sympathetic to a takeover by Samsung is not clear. It is also not the first time that there are rumors of a possible imminent takeover of BlackBerry. For example, several companies would have been interested in the company, or parts of it. These included Microsoft, IBM, Lenovo and Samsung. However, BlackBerry decided after a difficult period to continue on its own feet, according to the rumours. Despite this, the Canadian company is still struggling with declining sales.

Update, Thursday 08.00: According to Samsung, the message is “unfounded”. BlackBerry informed Bloomberg that it was aware of media reports about a possible offer from Samsung to acquire BlackBerry, but said: “BlackBerry is not in talks with Samsung about a possible offer to acquire BlackBerry.” The statement leaves open the possibility that an offer has been made, but it is not known whether this is actually the case.