BlackBerry likely to be sold within the next year

Last week rumors swirled around that Samsung would be acquiring BlackBerry. Both companies were quick to deny this news, yet it feels as if it is only a matter of time until BlackBerry is sold to a larger company.

Yesterday BlackBerry’s stock price closed at $10.24 per share which is close to a two year high. While this will make an acquisition more expensive, it also makes for a more attractive story for companies looking to add expand. Since joining as CEO with the stock price in the $7 range, John Chen will be able to show a sale at $15+ as a huge win for him. His action over the past year has been to eliminate the parts of the company that are less attractive to potential buyers in order to make BlackBerry easier to sell. This progress for the shareholders has largely come at the expense of BlackBerry’s users and developers. I understand why Chen has gone in this direction, but I really wish that things had gone in a different direction.

The end result is that BlackBerry is poised to sell.

Regardless if BlackBerry is purchased by Samsung, Lenovo, IBM, SAP, Amazon, or somebody else, I fully expect BlackBerry to be sold off within the next year. I just hope that the BlackBerry user base is not left behind…