South Korean technology conglomerate Samsung has denied speculation that it is considering the acquisition of Canadian handset maker RIM.
A Samsung spokesperson told TelecomFinance that media reports of Samsung’s buyout of RIM “are not true”.
The…
South Korean technology conglomerate Samsung has denied speculation that it is considering the acquisition of Canadian handset maker RIM.
A Samsung spokesperson told TelecomFinance that media reports of Samsung’s buyout of RIM “are not true”.
The BGR news website reported yesterday, citing a source with knowledge of the situation, that Samsung was the frontrunner for a possible sale of RIM. BGR said it had been told that RIM is likely leaning towards a sale of one or more divisions, or even of the entire company. It also reported that, according to its sources, speculation that RIM is in talks to license software to other vendors was accurate.
An outright sale, the report said, was more likely than other options, such as selling parts of the company or licensing its software to other vendors.
Citing a source with knowledge of the situation, BGR claimed that RIM is looking for a valuation of over US$10bn for a full sale of the company.
This comes after Reuters reported last week that there had been market speculation that RIM had hired Goldman Sachs to explore strategic options for the company.
A RIM spokeswoman refused to comment on rumours and speculation. Goldman Sachs also declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that Amazon, Microsoft and Nokia have all been mentioned before as potential buyers of RIM.
The Canadian handset maker has been under pressure from investors after weak results and disappointing sales, notably of the Playbook tablet.
RIM’s Q3 results, released on 15 December, showed net income of US$265m for the three months ending on 26 November, compared to net income of US$911m in Q3 2010.
A report by the National Post newspaper on 3 January suggested that RIM was preparing for a shake-up of its governance structure, which could potentially see the company’s two co-founders, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, giving up their roles as co-chairmen.
Balsillie and Lazaridis are currently both co-CEOs and co-chairmen of the company.
In June, one RIM investor, NEI Investments, withdrew a proposal to split the roles of chair and CEO that it had been planning to put forward to RIM’s AGM.
NEI Investments agreed with RIM that the handset maker would set up a committee of independent directors to examine its governance structure and report its findings by 31 January 2012.
RIM told TelecomFinance on 4 January that the committee was “on track” to meet this schedule.
